Francis A. Boyle Law Building 504 E. Pennsylvania Ave. Champaign, IL 61820 USA 217-333-7954 (voice) 217-244-1478 (fax) fbo...@law.uiuc.edu <mailto:fbo...@law.uiuc.edu> (personal comments only) -----Original Message----- From: Google Alerts [mailto:googlealerts-nore...@google.com] Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 4:21 PM To: fbo...@uiuc.edu Subject: Google Alert - Francis Boyle
Google Alert for: Francis Boyle UMNS# <http://www.wfn.org/2004/11/msg00041.html> 04510-Ex-governor serves self-imposed 'sentence' to end Worldwide Faith News (press release) - USA ... Debts for his legal defense continue to mount. One of Ryan's supporters, Francis Boyle, said it's a case of political retribution. ... _____ This as it happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google. Remove <http://www.google.com/alerts/remove?s=5d2347855ae6962e&hl=en> this alert. Create <http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en> another alert. Manage <http://www.google.com/alerts/manage?hl=en> your alerts. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/private/deathpenalty/attachments/20041104/e1647d6e/attachment.htm From rhalp...@mail.smu.edu Mon Nov 8 09:13:44 2004 From: rhalp...@mail.smu.edu (Rick Halperin) Date: Tue Aug 16 12:14:52 2005 Subject: [Deathpenalty]death penalty news----TEXAS, WASH. Message-ID: <pine.wnt.4.44.0411080913360.3092-100...@its08705.smu.edu> Nov. 4 TEXAS----execution Apologetic killer Robert Brice Morrow was executed today for the fatal beating and slashing of a 21-year-old Nevada college student who was abducted while home in Texas on spring break. In a last statement, Morrow addressed the parents of his victim by name and told them, "I would like to tell you that I am responsible and I am sorry for what I did and the pain I caused." He expressed love to his friends and said he had been blessed that they stood by him. Morrow urged them to stay strong. "Set me free warden," he said. "Father, accept me." As he waited for the lethal drugs to take effect, he turned again, looking through a window at his victim's relatives and added, "I do hope my death brings you all some closure." Then he blurted out, "I feel it" and gasped slightly three times. He was pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m. CST, 8 minutes after the drugs began flowing. The execution was delayed briefly as prison officials had difficulty finding suitable veins in the former drug user's arms. Instead they selected veins at the top of each hand for the needles. Morrow, 47, a former oilfield roughneck with a criminal record in at least three states, was condemned for the 1996 slaying of Lisa Allison, who was taken from a car wash near her home in Liberty, about 45 miles east of Houston. Her body was found the next day in the Trinity River. Authorities determined she had suffered 42 injuries. No last-day appeals were filed to try to block the punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago refused to review his case. "I still can't believe that there are people that walk the earth like this man," Mike Allison, the victim's father, said after watching Morrow die. "He paid a price tonight, a price I wanted him to pay, that he's just beginning to pay. and he'll be paying it for eternity. "I hope now some of the anger can come out of my body so I can reflect back on the memories, the sweet memories of Lisa, and enjoy the life and accomplishments of my other daughter." Lisa Allison had cheated death once, getting a clean bill of health months earlier after surviving thyroid cancer. She was looking forward to a hotel management career after graduation from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. A witness told authorities he saw a man fitting Morrow's description lying on top of Allison in the passenger side of a car at the car wash. She didn't appear to be struggling and he dismissed the activity as nothing more than boyfriend and girlfriend, then saw them drive away in the direction of the river. The car later was found abandoned. Morrow, who had previous convictions for burglary, weapons possession and larceny in South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas, was arrested nearly 4 months later walking near a crack house in Houston. A computer check revealed he was wanted for the slaying. At his trial and in interviews with reporters, the 10th-grade dropout gave multiple stories about his case, including acknowledging involvement in her death, claiming a relationship with her and blaming someone else. Prosecutors called Allison the victim of a random crime and disputed some of Morrow's comments. "I caught him in several lies," said Mike Little, the Liberty County district attorney who prosecuted Morrow. "I think the jury saw through what he was saying very quickly." After a 10-week trial, the jury took 13 minutes to decide he should be put to death. "I wish it didn't happen, but I can't change it," Morrow said recently from death row. "When you do drugs, there's no telling what can happen. I did that night and it got out of hand." Blood samples from the car matched Morrow's blood and the victim's. Witnesses testified he previously had talked of how easy it would be to abduct a woman from the car wash, rob her and use the money to buy drugs. Witnesses also said he had bloody clothing and scratches on his arms when they saw him the night of Allison's disappearance. Morrow becomes the 20th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas and the 333rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Morrow becomes the 94th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2000. Texas has 5 more executions scheduled this year. Morrow becomes the 55th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 940th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1982. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) ****************** Rosales' case tests Supreme Court ruling on executing mentally retarded A Lubbock murderer is back in local federal court trying to save his own life. A stay of execution for convicted murderer Michael Rosales came earlier this year after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, La., allowed him to pursue an appeal based on what he says is his limited mental capacity. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court barred executions for the mentally retarded. Texas and 19 other states were subsequently forced to review death penalty cases where mental re tar dation was an issue. Rosales' case is a last grab at staying out of the death chamber following a failed 1999 appeal claiming his Fifth Amendment rights were violated when 364th District Judge Bradley Underwood would not allow Rosales access to the crime scene. Claiming Rosales is mentally retarded, attorneys closed arguments in a pretrial evidentiary hearing that will form the basis for what a jury hears when his case convenes some time later. U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings also will rule on whether certain evidence may be presented to jurors. Attorneys closed arguments Wednesday afternoon following the examination of a witness for the state who also is the defendant in Rosales' civil suit to overturn his death sentence. Roger Saunders, who tested Rosales' mental capacity, told the court he did not believe Ro sales could be considered mentally retarded based on the tests. He instead classified him as having a conduct disorder. Based on interviews and test ing with Rosales, Saunders said he determined several is sues could precipitate subpar responses. According to Saunders, Rosales first smoked marijuana at age 10. In addition, he dropped out of school in the 8th grade. "(Rosales' mental capacity) is consistent with the formal education that he got," said Saunders. But that does not make him mentally retarded, he said. Rosales' attorney, Michael B. Charlton of Alvin, grilled Saunders, questioning his experience in determining a person mentally retarded. Charlton submitted evidence in the case based on the testimony of Rosales' family members and former employers, building a groundwork to save Rosales' life. "Michael (Rosales) was a nice guy but not very sharp," said former co-worker Frank Castaneda in a written statement. "He had a rough time in school," said brother Joseph Rosales. Rosales was convicted in 1999 for the 1997 murder of 60-year-old Lubbockite Mary Felder, who lived in the same apartment complex on Sixth Street as Rosales. A Coloradonative, Rosales was just 23 when he killed Felder. Rosales did not know she was home when he started robbing her home. Rosales stabbed Felder 137 times before hitting her with a hard object. (source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal) WASHINGTON: High court OKs new penalty trial for death row inmate In Olympia, the Washington Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the death sentence for a murderer, sending the case back to Pierce County for a new penalty trial. The 8-1 ruling came in a case involving Cecil Emile Davis, who was convicted in 1998 of the premeditated murder of Yoshiko Couch. Davis repeatedly raped the 65-year-old Couch in her home on Jan. 25, 1997, and killed her by placing her in a bathtub and suffocating her with a towel soaked in a household solvent. He also used a steel-wool cleaning pad to scrub evidence from her body, tearing off pieces of skin. The jury found aggravating circumstances of rape, robbery and burglary that made him eligible for the death penalty. The jury recommended that leniency not be shown and Pierce County Superior Court Judge Frederick Fleming sentenced him to death. The high court upheld his conviction and sentence in 2000, but later accepted a new appeal based primarily on his contention that his lawyer didn't effectively represent him. Davis also challenged the constitutionality of the death penalty and the state's post-conviction procedures for handling capital cases. The high court, in an opinion written by Justice Faith Ireland, affirmed the Court of Appeals regarding the guilt phase of his trial, but took up 17 separate arguments about the imposition of the death penalty, primarily regarding the effectiveness of counsel. Davis said his lawyers should have objected to him being shackled during the trial and should have raised the issue of racial prejudice against him as a black man involved in a crime against an Asian woman. He also complained that his counsel didn't move for a trial separate from a co-defendent, didn't give an opening statement and didn't object during the prosecutor's closing argument. The court didn't buy any of his various arguments. The justices said there was overwhelming evidence of his guilt and that there was no reason to believe that it would change the verdict if his lawyer had objected to the leg irons. But the possible prejudice during the sentencing phase of the trial can't necessarily be overcome by "objective and overwhelming evidence," so a new penalty phase will be granted, the court said. The only 2 possible sentences for aggravated 1st degree murder are death or imprisonment for life without possibility of parole. Justice Richard Sanders, in a dissent, said the conviction and sentences should be thrown out. The case is Personal Restraint Petition of Cecil Davis, No. 70834-7. On the Net: Washington Supreme Court: http://courts.wa.gov (source: Associated Press)
