July 27 TEXAS: 17 years on death row, man gets new hope Finding "strong reason" to fear that a death row inmate may be innocent, a San Antonio federal judge has thrown out the prisoner's conviction, ruling that West Texas authorities needlessly drugged Ernest Ray Willis and concealed evidence at his trial. The decision by U.S. District Judge Royal Furgeson cast doubt on a 1987 conviction that followed a trial that had come to alarm even the state judge who oversaw the proceeding. Accused of setting a house fire that killed 2 women, including one reportedly from San Antonio, Willis sat through his trial in Pecos County with a vacant gaze that prosecutors said had the remorseless look of "cold fish eyes." "He just merely stared and watched very impassively, very cold heartedly, much like he probably did that morning outside the fire when he watched and listened," one prosecutor told jurors in the Fort Stockton courthouse. Only later did defense lawyers discover that jailers had treated the former oilfield worker's back pain with large doses of drugs that were meant for psychotic episodes and which left him too dazed to meaningfully confer with his attorneys. And only after the trial did lawyers find that prosecutors had failed to disclose a report from a psychologist who said Willis was not dangerous a key issue in any death penalty case. In a ruling issued July 21, Furgeson declared that the state's highest criminal court erred when it dismissed these concerns and he echoed the state trial judge, Brock Jones of Ozona, who 4 years ago ruled that Willis never received a fair trial. Willis remains on death row while authorities decide whether the state will appeal, seek a new trial or set the 58-year-old free. While the ruling gives officials until Nov. 18, Willis' supporters say any deadline is overdue. "Hell, we knew Ernie wasn't guilty," said Michael Robinson, a friend of the family and witness in the case. "They didn't have any evidence at all ... and everything they came up with even at the original trial was all just blown out of proportion." The early morning fire that gutted Robinson's home in Iraan lies at the heart of the case. Willis and his cousin were staying with Robinson when flames spread through the house and consumed the sleeping women, Gail Joe Allison, 25, of Sheffield and 24-year-old Elizabeth Grace Belue, who, according to the Houston Chronicle, came from San Antonio. The blaze was ruled arson and was blamed on Willis, although prosecutors offered no motive to explain why he would set fire to his friend's home. The case took an odd twist years after the trial when another death row inmate confessed to setting the fire. David Long claimed he had shown up at the house, drunk and on drugs, and set the house aflame to get even with Willis' cousin. Furgeson's decision notes Long's admission and says arguments from both sides "raise strong reason to be concerned that Willis may be actually innocent." But the ruling does not squarely address the question of innocence. Instead, the ruling rests on the findings that the medication hobbled Willis' ability to defend himself, that prosecutors suppressed the psychologist's report and that defense lawyers failed to adequately serve their client at trial. Furgeson said defense lawyers asked only 2 questions at the sentencing hearing, they failed to object to comments about "cold fish eyes," and they never called anyone to testify on Willis' behalf, even though he once saved a boy from drowning. After trial, Willis' appeal was adopted by lawyers at the New York firm Latham & Watkins. One of the attorneys, James S. Blank, said that Willis learned about Furgeson's decision last week from his wife, whom he married while on death row. Afterward, Willis spoke with one of Blank's colleagues. Willis was cautiously pleased, the lawyer told Blank. "It was a measured response because he's been in (death row) for 17 years," Blank said, "and he understands it's not over till it's over." (source: San Antonio Express-News) CALIFORNIA: Bay fishing expert says Peterson wasn't using right gear Scott Peterson was either a crummy fisherman or a cold-blooded killer who used an angling alibi so he could get away with tossing his 8-month pregnant wife's body into a watery grave, prosecutors tried to show this morning. Peterson says he was fishing at the Berkeley Marina on Dec. 24, 2002 - the day his wife, Laci, was reported missing. When detectives asked him what he was fishing for Peterson seemed stumped, investigators testified. But later, during an interview at the Modesto police station, Peterson said he had been fishing for sturgeon. On the witness stand this morning in Redwood City, Angelo Cuanang, who has written three books on fishing in San Francisco Bay and numerous articles on the topic in sports magazines, said that if Peterson really wanted to catch a sturgeon he was using the wrong pole, the wrong bait and the wrong anchor. What's more, Cuanang said, Peterson was fishing in the wrong spot. He said that in December the sturgeon are swimming in San Pablo Bay, about 10 miles north of where Peterson had taken out his 14-foot aluminum boat. "Have you ever known the Berkeley Marina to be a place to catch sturgeon?" asked Deputy District Attorney Rick Distaso. "Not for me," Cuanang answered. Peterson's pole was too light weight to catch a sturgeon, according to the professional fisherman. The fish usually range from 29 to 120 pounds, he said, but Peterson's rod was rigged for an 8- to 20-pound fish. Peterson said he had lures with him the day he went fishing. But Cuanang said it's best to use live bait such as shrimp when fishing for sturgeon. He said lures are better used for striped bass, which can be found in the spring, summer and early fall. He also said there was no way that Peterson's puny 5-pound anchor could have firmly held his boat while fishing. "Any kind of wind is going to send the boat drifting," he said. Cuanang said he uses a claw anchor that digs into the bay floor. If Peterson did catch anything, Cuanang said, he would have been able to pull in a large squirming fish or throw it back into the bay without risk of capsizing his relatively small boat. Distaso is hoping to show that if Peterson could catch or dump a big fish without falling into the bay, he could toss a weighted body overboard. The defense has expressed skepticism that he could have done so without tipping his boat. During cross-examination, defense attorney Pat Harris got Cuanang to concede that while the equipment Peterson said he was using wasn't "optimal" for sturgeon fishing, it was plausible that someone would go out on the bay using it. Peterson is charged with 2 murders in the deaths of 27-year-old Laci Peterson and the couple's unborn child. Prosecutors say Peterson killed his wife either on Dec. 23, 2004, or the next day and then dumped her body in the bay. The bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son washed up in April 2003 in Richmond, less than 2 miles from where Scott Peterson said he went fishing. If Peterson is convicted of double murder he could receive the death penalty. (source: San Francisco Chronicle) ********************** LA Man Denies Killing Daughter to Avoid Payment A Los Angeles man accused of pushing his 4-year-old daughter from an ocean cliff to avoid child support payments pleaded innocent on Monday to murder charges that could carry the death penalty. Cameron John Brown, 42, faces charges of murder and special allegations of lying in wait and murder for financial gain nearly four years after his daughter, Lauren Key, was found dead at the foot of a cliff along the Pacific Ocean. Brown told police that he and Lauren were separated during a Nov. 8, 2000 hike along a popular trail that runs along the Palos Verdes cliffs, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles. He said he later found the child floating in the water at the foot of Inspiration Point, a cliff that drops 120 feet to the Pacific Ocean, prosecutor Craig Hum said. Brown, a baggage handler at Los Angeles International Airport, had virtually no contact with the girl until she was about 3 years old and her mother sued him for child support, Hum said. After paternity tests showed that he was Lauren's father, Brown was ordered to pay $1,000 a month in child support -- a significant portion of his income, Hum said. "As soon as he was ordered to pay child support, he requested visitation and a reduction in the child support," Hum said. "The judge granted visitation and denied the reduction in child support." Brown was gradually allowed unsupervised visits with Lauren, and it was during a day visit with her that investigators believe he hoisted her over the cliff, Hum said. Brown has been jailed without bail since his November arrest. (source: Reuters) ALABAMA: Executing juveniles Alabama AG shouldn't defend shameful practice In a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, Alabama Attorney General Troy King wrote there's "little room for doubt that at least some adolescent killers most assuredly have the mental and emotional wherewithal to plot, kill and cover up in cold blood. They should not evade full responsibility for their actions by the serendipity of chronological age." Of course, society treats age as more than a matter of chance, or "serendipity," as King calls it. A 16- or 17-year-old is a child, not an adult. And we correctly put restrictions on what children can do, as well as stipulations on how our legal system must treat them. Certainly, those restrictions should apply to the execution of juveniles. It's wrong. Society's ultimate punishment should be reserved for adults. King believes he's doing his job as the state's top law official in writing a friend-of-the-court brief in a Missouri case urging the high court not to ban the execution of juveniles. Such a ban would apply to Alabama law as well. But the Alabama law King is trying to protect is abhorrent. Alabama is one of 19 states that condemn to death those who committed their crime before reaching adulthood. Even fewer states sentence to die those as young as 16, as Alabama does. Per capita, Alabama leads the nation in the number of juvenile offenders on death row. Only Texas, with a much larger population, has more condemned juveniles than Alabama's 14. That is shameful. And puzzling. Consider that we don't allow juveniles to vote, serve on juries, join the Army, buy cigarettes or alcohol, play the lottery, marry without their parents' permission or even consent to medical procedures - because we deem them too young and too lacking in maturity and responsibility. Yet, the law considers them old enough to be put to death? We, as a nation, also should consider the company we keep. The United States is 1 of only 3 countries that execute juveniles. Do we really want to be on a short list with Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo? Between 1990 and 2003, the United States executed more people for their juvenile crimes than the rest of the world combined. There are 73 juvenile offenders on death row today across the country. The Missouri case offers an opportunity for the Supreme Court to right a wrong this fall when it considers the constitutionality of juvenile execution. An impressive list of groups and people has asked the court to end the execution of juveniles. They include Nobel Peace Prize winners, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Child Welfare League of American, the American Bar Association, dozens of religious organizations and 48 nations of the world, including our closest allies. It would be regrettable if the high court, with the world watching, upheld juvenile execution. Alabamians, rather than sitting back and watching their attorney general lobby for the continuation of an unjust practice, should ask their lawmakers to raise the minimum age for the death penalty from 16 to 18. (source: Birmingham News) ***************************** Once condemned, Guntersville man goes from death row to Hollywood >From the pictures, it almost looks like Randal Padgett went from death row to Hollywood. There's a snapshot, framed at Padgett's house, of him with Danny Glover. Another with Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. This was in October 2000 at the New York premiere of "The Exonerated," a play about falsely convicted Americans freed from death row. And Padgett's story, a tortured chapter about a self-proclaimed good ol' boy from Marshall County, earned a place in the spotlight. Robbins portrayed Padgett. Sarandon played his wife, Brenda, whose advocacy helped free him in 1997. He'd been incarcerated five years, three and half on Death Row. After the play, Robbins approached them to make sure his portrayal was on target, that Padgett wasn't mad. "Naw, why should I be mad?" Padgett asked. Robbins, as it turned out, just wanted to make sure he hadn't overdone the Southern drawl. A lightness, joy almost, comes over Randal and Brenda Padgett, both 54, as they reminisce about that rare, sweet glimpse of glamour in a hard-fought return to the free world, a world that's not sure how to handle men like Padgett and his fraternity of the once-condemned. Padgett, who had no prior arrests, was convicted of killing his former wife, Cathy Padgett. She was stabbed multiple times and raped in her home outside Guntersville. An appeals court granted him a new trial after it emerged that prosecutors unlawfully withheld exculpatory evidence. He was acquitted the second time when defense attorneys showed strong evidence pointing to someone else as the killer. Lawmen never pursued another suspect. At 47, Padgett returned home to rural Marshall County, moved in with his mother and started over with little more than his life. 8 years out of prison, and he remains deep in debt. Freedom had cost more than $200,000. These days, the Padgetts' livelihood is tied up in the health and welfare of 86,000 baby chickens. Padgett is a poultry farmer, a second career he began before he was imprisoned and fell back into when no one would hire him with a murder conviction, even a bogus one. The Census Bureau almost took him on for temporary work. He aced the test, then explained his peculiar circumstances. "A week later, I got a letter back that said the FBI has a felony arrest record on you, and we can't hire anybody like you," Padgett said. So when crazy weather hits, as it often has this summer, Randal and Brenda Padgett hop into their Jeep Liberty and wind through the green countryside to six aging chicken houses. "It's stinky, but it's our life," says Brenda, a bubbly Bonnie Raitt look-alike. Yet Padgett considers himself one of the lucky ones. He owned land, a farm, a home so he could pay for his own lawyers. He mortgaged, then eventually sold his property to pay for his defense. And he had Brenda. They were co-workers at a factory that makes electrical switches, acquaintances barely, when he was arrested. Always one with a heart for the underdog, she believed he was innocent and began praying lengthy, walking-the-floors prayers. Brenda also organized a support group of his friends, raised money at a yard sale and set up a reward hot line. Now they refer to those dark years at Holman prison as "when he left," or "when he was on vacation." Both 54, she calls him babe, he thinks she's beautiful. They married last year in Gatlinburg. Their families were suspicious of this love. "I would have never chosen this," Brenda said. "Because in my opinion, if you did something wrong and they convicted you, then you're guilty and you need to be there." She believes God was guiding her. "I wanted to do for his children, and his mother what I hope somebody would do for me if I was in the same circumstances," she said. Her son is a police officer, and her opinions typically fall on the conservative side, so this has been a strange leap of faith for Brenda Padgett. "My son, he lectures me, 'Mother, not everybody is innocent. Not everybody is in jail for the same reasons that Randal was,'" she says. Padgett interrupts, speaking in halting sentences that she often completes, "People have got to realize, there are a few..." he says. She finishes, "Innocent people." "After I went through what I went through, I think there might be more than a few, because it's easy to get convicted for something that you didn't do," Padgett said. Like other men in this group, men who had relatively carefree middle-class lives, Padgett feels driven to speak out about his experiences. The couple has traveled to death penalty conferences in Florida, New York and Chicago. Sometimes he wonders why he bothers. "I don't know that I'm doing any good, but I guess it appeases my heart to do whatever I can do... If I can save one other person from going through what I went through," Padgett said. Alabama's lack of a public-defender system and the deficiencies in court-appointed lawyers are especially troubling to Padgett. The costs of his first trial left him indigent for the second one. On Death Row, he heard horror stories about court-appointed attorneys. Then he met his own. "He told me, 'I don't want this case. This case is a burden to me, said I got a family to feed and I'm not going to make any money, maybe a couple thousand dollars on this case. I got to put my time in on cases where I'm going to make money,'" Padgett recalled. That's when his mother, at age 78, mortgaged her house and they hired Birmingham attorney Richard Jaffe, whose efforts have freed 2 other death row convicts. "And so I'm still paying $527 a month... on mom's mortgage," Padgett said. Padgett's children were 6 and 11 when he was locked up. His daughter, an Auburn student, just got engaged. His son graduated from Auburn's architecture program and is married and employed in Nashville. "I'm going to be a grandpa," Padgett said. Life goes on, where it almost ended. (source: Associated Press) MARYLAND: Evans to appeal death sentence to Supreme Court Death row inmate Vernon Evans Jr., convicted of the contract murders of 2 people 21 years ago, will appeal his sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court, his attorneys said. It will be Evans' 9th appeal since he was sentenced to death for the murders of Scott Piechowicz and Susan Kennedy at a Pikesville motel in 1983. It also could be his last appeal if the Supreme Court declines to hear the case. Evans would have no further grounds for appeal, according to prosecutors. Evans was sentenced to death for the murders of Piechowicz and his sister-in-law Kennedy, who were gunned down in the lobby of the Warren House Motel. While admitting that he was paid $9,000 by drug dealer Anthony Grandison, Evans argued that he was merely a middleman. Grandison, who is also on death row for his part in the murders, wanted Piechowicz and his wife dead because he believed they were going to testify against him in another trial. Evans killed Kennedy by mistake after incorrectly identifying her as Piechowicz's wife, who was her sister. (source: Associated Press)
