June 2
TEXAS:
COUNTY REINDICTS TWO ON MURDER CHARGES
2 Smith County men were reindicted on murder charges - a 17-year-old for
allegedly killing his friend during a confrontation and a man for
allegedly killing and robbing his mother.
Tracy Lane Beatty, 42, was reindicted for allegedly killing his mother and
stealing her car last November. The Smith County District Attorney's
Office has filed its intent to seek the death penalty against the Tyler
man.
Beatty's, as well as 47 other indictments released Tuesday were handed up
by a Smith County grand jury in Judge Kerry Russell's 7th District Court
Thursday.
Beatty is accused of killing Carolyn Ruth Click, 62, and burying her body
behind their mobile home on County Road 2323.
What makes the crime a capital offense is that Beatty allegedly killed his
mother as part of a robbery. He then allegedly stole her car and her ATM
card.
The defendant was brought back to Smith County in December from Henderson
County, where he was being held on charges of unauthorized use of a motor
vehicle and possession of a weapon by a felon.
Information from inmates at the Henderson County Jail, who Beatty
allegedly talked to, led authorities to the body on Dec. 23.
Though a preliminary autopsy indicates that the cause of death was
probably strangulation, authorities do not know how long Mrs. Click's body
was buried, though they say it was probably around 3 weeks.
Beatty was indicted earlier this year but the new capital murder
indictment lists additional ways Mrs. Click could have been killed.
She may have been strangled with Beatty's hands, pantyhose, a piece of
cloth or an unknown object. It is also possible she was struck by a blunt
object, smothered or suffocated by being buried alive. The indictment
states that she was allegedly killed by Beatty as he committed the offense
of robbery or burglary of a habitation.
Mrs. Click was last seen by her neighbors Nov. 25, 2003. Beatty was living
with her at the time, having been paroled to her house.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice records show that he has been in and
out of prison on charges including injury to a child in Dallas County in
1986, theft in 1988, possession of a controlled substance and aggravated
assault.
TEENAGER INDICTED FOR MURDER
Joshua Boaz has been certified to be tried as an adult for the shooting
death of 21-year-old Leslie Aaron Dobbs.
There was a verbal argument between the 2 men at about 2 a.m. Feb. 16,
2003 at a home on CR 431 near Lindale, when Boaz, who was 16 at the time,
allegedly shot the man in the chest with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun,
prosecutors have said.
Defense attorney F.R. "Buck" Files said, during a hearing to certify the
juvenile as an adult, the killing might not have been intentional, and
noted the victim and the suspect were such close friends that Dobbs once
said he would take a bullet for Boaz.
Testimony showed Dobbs had been depressed and had used methamphetamine,
marijuana and was twice the limit of intoxication the night he was killed.
Some time during the argument, Boaz, who arrived at the house with Dobbs,
took out the TEC-9 handgun he had obtained from his sister, Smith County
sheriff's detective Joe Rasco testified.
The recent indictment states Boaz could have shot Dobbs to either kill him
or seriously injure him.
Both men remain in the Smith County Jail. Boaz's murder trial is scheduled
for July 19 in Russell's court. Beatty's capital murder trial is set for
July 26 in Judge Jack Skeen Jr.'s 241st District Court.
**********************
DEATH PENALTY WANTED FOR SUSPECT IN MURDER PLOT
The Smith County District Attorney's Office filed a motion Tuesday of its
intent to seek the death penalty against a New Chapel Hill man suspected
of a killing in a murder-for-hire scheme.
Cornet "Pokey" Meekins, 25, allegedly shot Shaune Pickens in the head and
left him inside a vehicle off of County Road 2209 on Jan. 15.
Meekins, along with Bryson Carey, 22, and Stefany Campos, 19, allegedly
belong to a street gang called the Chapel Hill Hoover Five Duce Crips.
Jamarcus Warren, 27, is suspected of being the ringleader of the
murder-for-hire plot and is wanted on suspicion of capital murder.
Meekins admitted to shooting Pickens, according to an arrest affidavit.
Officials have implicated the others in organizing or hiding evidence in
the killing.
The slaying was discovered when a Smith County homeowner spotted an
unfamiliar vehicle in the driveway.
Lawmen responding to the call discovered a sport utility vehicle damaged
by gunfire and Pickens' body inside.
Pickens was last seen with a man and woman, later identified in a photo
lineup as Meekins and Ms. Campos. Both were found in possession of 3
pounds of marijuana, investigators said. Authorities suspect the drugs
were partial payment for murder.
The Chapel Hill gang was previously linked to an unrelated 1996 murder
that resulted in five convictions.
Smith County sheriff's investigators have said Meekins was a hired hand
paid to carry out murders for other top-ranking gang members.
Meekins' capital murder trial is scheduled for Sept. 15 in Judge Jack
Skeen Jr.'s 241st District Court.
Federal and local investigators have been searching for Warren, who is
described as black, about 5-10 and 170 pounds. Officials said he has been
traveling between East Texas and the Dallas area.
(source for both: Tyler Morning Telegraph)
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Abilene prosecutor, judge accused of misconduct
Taylor County's district attorney and a former prosecutor who's now a
judge are accused of misconduct and may face disciplinary action,
according to the State Bar of Texas.
The allegations stem from complaints that prosecutors may have withheld
evidence favorable to the defense in a murder case that ended in a
mistrial last year.
Mark Pinckard, the projects director for chief disciplinary council for
the State Bar of Texas, said his office is drafting a disciplinary
petition against District Attorney James Eidson and Robert Harper, a
former prosecutor who is now the judge for Taylor County Court at Law No.
1. The state bar oversees lawyers' professional conduct.
Eidson declined to comment Tuesday. Harper was out of town and could not
be reached.
The petition will be made public when the case is filed with the Supreme
Court of Texas, which will appoint a visiting district judge to hear the
case in Taylor County, Pinckard told the Abilene Reporter-News for a story
in Wednesday editions.
Possible outcomes of the case include acquittal, a public reprimand or
their law licenses being put on probation, suspended or revoked.
Pinckard said the complaints were filed by James Masonheimer, the
defendant who said he killed his daughter's ex-boyfriend in self defense
in 2001.
During the trial last year, defense attorneys filed a motion for a
mistrial after they learned prosecutors failed to turn over evidence that
steroids may have been found in the victim's home. Defense attorneys said
the victim's alleged steroid use, which can cause violent and erratic
behavior, was a major factor in their self-defense argument.
The vials had been thrown away before authorities could collect and test
them.
Visiting senior Judge Billy John Edwards scolded prosecutors for
withholding evidence from the defense and declared a mistrial, the 2nd
time in less than a year that the case ended in a mistrial.
A hearing to decide whether the case can be tried a third time has not
been set.
(source: Associated Press)
**************************
Killer pleads guilty, gets 3 life sentences -- Self-described serial
pedophile OKs deal relating to sex offenses
Michael Blair, whose death sentence for abducting and killing a 7-year-old
Plano girl is on appeal, pleaded guilty Tuesday to unrelated charges of
aggravated sexual assault in exchange for three consecutive life prison
sentences.
Tuesday's plea agreement for the self-described serial pedophile assures
that he dies in prison, one of his attorneys said.
Mr. Blair, 33, appeared briefly in court to plead guilty to 4 aggravated
sexual assault of a child charges involving 3 children in exchange for the
three consecutive life prison sentences.
"They'll never parole him, and he knows that," defense attorney Rick
Magnis said.
Mr. Blair has been on death row since his 1994 conviction for the
abduction and slaying of Ashley Estell in September 1993. She was taken
from a Plano soccer field and found dead the next day on a road about six
miles away. New DNA tests determined that hair evidence belonged to
neither Mr. Blair nor the child; his federal appeal is pending.
The new convictions stem from a letter Mr. Blair wrote from prison to the
judge who presided over his capital murder trial. In the letter, he
confessed to 7 sex offenses involving three young victims in the early
1990s.
Another of his attorneys, public defender Jennifer Balido, said Mr. Blair
did not challenge the stiff punishment he is receiving for the new
offenses.
"He wanted to be held responsible for what he's guilty of," she said. "He
felt that was the appropriate sentence in those cases."
(source: The Dallas Morning News)
*********************
Probe targets ex-chief of DNA lab----Perjury inquiry could expand to
encompass county justice system
In a move that could lead to a wider examination of the Harris County
criminal justice system, a judge on Tuesday called for a rare court of
inquiry to investigate perjury allegations against the former head of the
Houston Police Department's DNA laboratory.
State District Judge Jan Krocker ruled that there is probable cause to
believe that former lab chief James Bolding committed aggravated perjury
during the June 2002 trial of Keith Grimes, who was convicted of sexual
assault.
"We need to go forward with this," Krocker said.
Her ruling was in response to a motion for a court of inquiry filed last
week by City Councilwoman Ada Edwards and attorney Elsie Martin-Simon,
among others.
The motion accused Bolding, as well as members of the Harris County
district attorney's office and a local physician, of giving or
facilitating false testimony during the 2002 trials of Grimes and Harry
Bellaire, who also was convicted of sexual assault.
Specifically, according to attorney Butch Bradt, who represented Grimes,
Bolding lied when he testified that he had a doctorate in biochemistry.
Bradt maintains that Bolding lied to add weight to his testimony.
Although Bolding's statement is reflected in the trial transcript,
Bolding, who does not have a doctorate, has said the discrepancy resulted
from a transcription error by the court reporter.
Assistant District Attorney Sunni Mitchell repeated that claim Tuesday
before Krocker. Mitchell noted that, according to the transcript,
Bolding's degree is in "bayou" chemistry rather than "bio" chemistry.
Krocker, however, did not buy that argument when it came to the word
"doctorate."
"I don't understand how this could jump into the (court) record out of the
clear blue sky," she said. "I don't understand these words getting into
the record if Mr. Bolding didn't say them."
Bolding, who retired in June 2003 after then-Police Chief C.O. Bradford
recommended he be fired, did not return calls from the Houston Chronicle
on Tuesday.
Krocker's request for a court of inquiry now goes to state District Judge
Olen Underwood of Conroe, the presiding administrative judge for the
judicial district. If Underwood agrees with Krocker, he would select a
third judge to convene the inquiry.
Krocker said she hopes that judge would come from outside the Houston
area.
The judge would have the power to appoint a special prosecutor to help
with the investigation if it is determined that the district attorney's
office has a conflict of interest in conducting the probe. The proceedings
would also be open to the public.
The DNA lab was shut down in December 2002 after an independent audit
revealed shoddy scientific methods and substandard working conditions at
the facility. The district attorney's office is reviewing evidence
processed by the lab in almost 400 cases, and problems have been found in
about 20 percent of the retests.
One man, Josiah Sutton, was freed from prison after retests showed he
could not have committed the rape for which he served 4 1/2 years. Last
month, Sutton received a pardon from Gov. Rick Perry.
Additionally, last year 2 state grand juries investigated questions
surrounding the DNA lab. Neither returned indictments. Bradt questioned
whether either grand jury had considered a September 2003 Chronicle story
that revealed the discrepancy in Bolding's testimony in the Grimes trial.
The district attorney's office maintains that the Bolding issue was fully
investigated.
Bradt also alleged that Bolding gave faulty testimony about scientific
evidence in the Grimes trial as well as in three other cases. Bolding has
conceded making errors on the stand but said they were honest mistakes.
But Bradt has maintained that some prosecutors have knowingly allowed
Bolding and other DNA lab employees to give false testimony. Because of
what they see as a conflict of interest, Bradt and several other local
attorneys, as well as all 22 local criminal district court judges --
including Krocker -- have previously called for District Attorney Chuck
Rosenthal to recuse himself and his assistants from any investigation of
the DNA lab. So far, however, Rosenthal has refused.
On Tuesday, he again backed his prosecutors and the previous
investigations of the DNA lab.
"We looked at it, (and) 2 grand juries have looked at it," Rosenthal said.
"But if (Krocker) wants somebody else to look at it, it's OK with me."
At the conclusion of Tuesday's hearing, Krocker noted that while her
ruling pertained only to questions surrounding Bolding's testimony,
Underwood -- the administrative judge -- has the prerogative to widen the
scope of a court of inquiry.
Underwood did not return calls from the Chronicle.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers joined in the motion
for a court of inquiry Tuesday and was represented by Houston attorney
Kathryn M. Kase.
Kase said that, given other recent problems such as the review of the work
of a sexual assault examination nurse at the Children's Assessment Center,
it is time for a broad, independent investigation of the local criminal
justice system.
"We're pretty bewildered that all this lab scandal has engendered is an
internal review by the district attorney's office," said Kase, who is
married to Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen. "When the space shuttle (Columbia)
went down, NASA commenced this huge inquiry. And we already know that at
least one innocent person has been convicted based on the shoddy science
at the (DNA) lab. You can't tell me that doesn't merit an inquiry apart
from what the district attorney's office is doing."
(source: Houston Chronicle)
