August 26
TEXAS----impending execution
Remorseful store clerk killer set to die Thursday
Condemned inmate James Allridge describes himself as quiet, not so much a
talker but a doer, and a workaholic.
"Life takes us on a bunch of different courses," Allridge says. "You just
have to try to find your path."
One of those paths 19 years ago earned Allridge a death sentence -
scheduled to be carried out Thursday evening - for killing a convenience
store clerk in Fort Worth during a $300 robbery.
It's the same fate that confronted his brother, Ronald, who was put to
death in 1995 for killing a woman during the robbery of a Fort Worth
fast-food restaurant.
In all, the brothers were tied to the slayings of three people during a
2-month crime spree that targeted convenience stores and fast-food places.
"I am deeply regretful any of this has happened," Allridge said last week
from death row, adding that he would like to express his sentiments to the
relatives of his victim. "This should never have happened."
He acknowledged his "difficult situation" but called himself "literally
the eternal optimist."
The crime wave appeared to be out of character for Allridge, who had no
previous criminal record. He was described as a good student and hard
worker but someone who fell under the control and demands of an older
violent brother who intimidated him.
Allridge's supporters contended he was rehabilitated during his nearly two
decades in prison. They also say jurors who convicted him and decided he
should die for killing 21-year-old clerk Brian Clendennen didn't know
enough about his abusive childhood and his dominating brother. The
argument, in a clemency petition rejected earlier this week by the Texas
Board of Pardons and Paroles, also was included in an appeal in the
federal courts that sought to spare Allridge's life.
That didn't sit well with Clendennen's relatives.
"My brother didn't even have a chance at life," Shane Clendennen told the
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "People who say the death penalty is wrong
haven't gone through this... All I have is a picture and a grave site."
Allridge would be the 12th Texas inmate executed this year and the 2nd in
as many evenings.
Jasen Shane Busby, 28, of Tyler, was put to death Wednesday for a double
slaying in Cherokee County in East Texas more than 9 years ago.
Busby was arrested within an hour after cousins Tennille Thompson, 18, and
Brandy Gray, 16, were gunned down at a mobile home in Antioch, just west
of Jacksonville. A 3rd person was shot in the neck but managed to call for
help, identified Busby as the gunman and testified against him. All had
been partying together and court records indicate they had been smoking
marijuana.
Busby, in a brief final statement in which he said he was sorry, contended
he and Gray had a suicide pact "and I just didn't follow through." 9
minutes later, at 6:20 p.m., he was pronounced dead.
Allridge's appeal was similar to the one filed on behalf of Busby as
attorneys challenged the way Texas juries decide death penalties. Busby's
appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court about 2 1/2 hours before he
was executed.
The appeals also contended a life prison term is the maximum sentence a
judge can impose if a jury can't agree on the so-called special issue
questions that can lead to a death sentence. But the appeals argued a
death sentence based on a jury's answers to those questions is a "tail
that wags the dog" escalation of the statutory maximum sentence and
improper under recent Supreme Court decisions.
Allridge spent some of his time on death row creating artwork sold on an
Internet site. His work attracted the attention of actress Susan Sarandon,
a death penalty opponent who visited the prisoner last month.
"She came to see me as a friend," Allridge said. "It wasn't about
publicity. I don't know her as Susan Sarandon the movie star."
Sarandon, 57, won an Academy Award for her portrayal of anti-capital
punishment crusader Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking." Prejean
was on Allridge's list of witnesses scheduled to attend his execution
Thursday evening.
(source: Associated Press)
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Charges Upped In Teenager's 8 Month Old Murder
A San Antonio woman is charged with capital murder, more than 8 months
after the crime. Police say she lured her boyfriend to a remote south side
road, where she helped two other men rob and then kill him.
Police arrested 27-year-old Deborah Espinoza Saturday for the 4th time
since her boyfriend's murder last December. But this time, his family
hopes the capital murder charge will put her away for a long time.
"I just pray to God that she'll pay for what she's done to us, sooner or
later," said Mary Garcia, Tommy's stepmother.
Murder charges against Espinoza are already too late for the Garcia
family. Tommy Garcia, 19, was murdered last December, when police say
Espinoza, his girlfriend, set him up for robbery.
"I've never gotten no phone calls you know or anything saying I'm sorry,
you know," said Mary Garcia.
Tommy Garcia wasn't just robbed. He was killed, shot seven times. The men
Espinoza allegedly conspired with were charged with murder, but Espinoza
was only charged with only armed robbery. She's bonded out of jail four
times since January, then arrested again each time her bondsman
surrendered her bail.
"I guess money is the word, because apparently she's been bailed out four
times with $10,000," said Garcia. "And if they have so much money...why
did they kill my son for only $500 that he had?"
The last time Espinoza was arrested, the district attorney gathered enough
evidence to up her charge to capital murder. If convicted, she could get
the death penalty.
"Let her rot in hell for what she's done to me and my family," said
Garcia.
(source: WOAI News)
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Cell Mate Testifies in Adams Trial
In the Anderson County courtroom Wednesday, 21-year-old Buenka Adams had
to sit and listen as several of the state's witnesses took the stand.
Adams is being tried for his connection in the shooting death of
37-year-old Kenneth Vandever.
Almost 2 years ago, Adams and an accomplice, allegedly went into BDJ's
convenience store in Rusk, stole more than a thousand dollars and
kidnapped 2 female clerks and a male customer. Then the 2 allegedly took
the victims into a field where at least 1 woman was sexually assaulted and
all of them were shot. The 2 women, survived.
Adams' accomplice, Richard Cobb, received the death penalty earlier this
year for his connection in the shooting. Cherokee County defense attorney
Elmer Beckworth is seeking the death penalty for Adams as well.
On Wednesday, jurors heard testimony from one of Adams' cell mates. The
witness told the jury that Buenka Adams told him that he shot the victims
because Cobb couldn't do it. Adams' attorneys who are out of Tyler claim
that the witness was not reliable.
The jury also heard from an arresting officer and a criminalist who
examined the DNA involved in the sexual assault.
Testimony is supposed to continue throughout the rest of the week, and
into next week. Judge Bascom Bentley said they might even have to work
during the weekend.
A change of venue was granted in the Adams' trial. It is being held in
Anderson County instead of Cherokee County because of the extensive media
coverage.
(source: KTRE News)
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UNMOVED BY INJUSTICE----District attorney obliged to give same weight to
forensic analysis when it exonerates or convicts
In1987, a 14-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped by 2 men. Recent lab
tests show analysis used to convict one of the accused rapists was wrong.
DNA tests on new forensic evidence point to a man whose name cropped up
repeatedly in the original police investigation.
Although the new analysis and evidence cries out for the righting of an
injustice, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's unsettling
response was that he is "not particularly moved" by the new findings.
The criminal courthouse is filled with files on defendants Rosenthal and
his predecessor, John B. Holmes Jr., were moved to prosecute on the basis
of DNA, serology and ballistic analysis performed by the Houston Police
Department's crime lab. Now that the crime lab's work has been called into
question or proved flat wrong in a disturbing number of cases, Rosenthal
is honor bound to find the truth about who actually assaulted that victim
nearly 20 years ago.
George Rodriguez is 1 of the 2 men serving 60 years for the crime. His
case for innocence was bolstered this month by 6 independent national
experts who concluded that a former crime lab employee's blood analysis
incorrectly excluded Isidro Yanez, a prime suspect at the time.
Furthermore, DNA tests conducted for the 1st time on hair found after the
rape show it couldn't have come from Rodriguez but likely came from Yanez.
What's more, Rodriguez had a solid alibi.
Rosenthal should continue to investigate all the possibilities surrounding
this troubling case to ensure justice is served. His comment that, "We are
moving toward a position that HPD was correct" shows a mind remarkably
closed to the probable miscarriage of justice. So does this statement from
Rosenthal: "The fact that she [the victim] had a pubic hair from someone
in Mr. Yanez's family on her is not necessarily compelling."
Rosenthal should keep in mind Occam's Razor, the scientific principle that
the simpler or more straightforward of 2 explanations is probably the
correct one.
(source: Editorial, Houston Chronicle)
