August 28
TEXAS:
Inmate challenges lethal injection
A death row inmate filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming that the form of
lethal injection used in Texas violates the constitutional ban on cruel
and unusual punishment. The lawsuit by Charles D. Raby, 34, claims the 3
drugs used in executions paralyze the prisoner while masking extreme pain.
Raby was convicted of the 1993 slaying in Harris County of Edna Franklin,
72. No execution date has been set.
*********************
Defense laments the lack of help----Prosecution not offering evidence,
lawyers contend
HELP FOR THE ENRON ACCUSED
It may seem counterintuitive, but prosecutors are supposed to hand over
some evidence that hurts the government's case. Taxpayers pay to find the
evidence, the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the
courts have ruled the government may not hide it.
Since when?
-Since 1963 when the U.S. Supreme Court granted a Maryland death row
inmate, John Brady, a new punishment trial because prosecutors suppressed
his accomplice's murder confession.
What has to be handed over?
-Material that would tend to prove a defendant innocent and is important
to the case. Items often thought of as "Brady" information would include
government payments to a witness, names of witnesses who say they saw
someone else do the crime or incriminating information that would impeach
witnesses.
What's been given defendants in Enron cases?
-Prosecutors have not regularly been pointing out specific items to help
their opponents, and they may not agree with defendants on what is covered
by the law anyway. Instead, they've produced an estimated 50 million or
more pages of documents, some searchable on computer, some not. Defense
attorneys say this is too much to cull. They say even spending one working
minute on each document would take years.
Enron executives are complaining that the government isn't helping them
prove their innocence.
And they may have a point.
A federal judge has already shown an interest in forcing the issue. And
this week, prosecutors wrote letters to attorneys for ex-Chief Executive
Officer Jeff Skilling and former chief accountant Rick Causey to clarify
what they will or won't do to help the defendants.
Ever since 1963, federal law has required that prosecutors provide
defendants with collected evidence that would tend to exonerate those
accused of crimes. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court gave a new
punishment trial to Maryland death row inmate John Brady because
prosecutors hid his co-defendant's confession to a slaying committed
during a robbery.
Attorneys for Skilling and Causey complain that they've been pointed to no
exonerating information, even though the government has compiled at least
50 million - maybe 80 million or more - documents.
The defense lawyers have pointed to several documents they found
themselves that they say help their case. One is ane-mail from an Enron
lawyer saying Skilling would have stopped a side deal if he knew how much
money then-Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow was making.
Enron Task Force prosecutors counter that the e-mail at issue was provided
to Skilling by the government; it just wasn't highlighted. They say
they've been unusually open, providing a room where lawyers can look at
and copy the documents. Prosecutors say the government has more than met
its burden by opening these files.
In court, prosecutors have said they found no information that would fall
under the exonerating evidence rule.
In letters, they promise to try to point up any such information.
Difference of opinion
"We have serious differences of opinion with the Task Force about how they
are conducting this case, especially on the critical" issue of exonerating
evidence, said Daniel Petrocelli, Skilling's Los Angeles-based chief trial
lawyer. "It's one thing to turn over to the defendant a handful of files
where he can readily locate the exculpatory material. It's quite another
to dump 100 million pages of paper on him and tell him to go find (it)
himself."
Petrocelli said it is "preposterous" that prosecutors claim they've
diligently looked through the millions of pages, but cannot find a single
document that falls under the law.
He points to information where lawyers and accountants approved his
client's actions and the January 2001 e-mail from lawyer Jordan Mintz
saying Skilling would shut down a side deal company, LJM, "if he knew how
much Andy (Fastow) earned" on one transaction called Rhythms.
Enron Task Force Director Andrew Weissmann had no comment for this story.
But in court and in papers, prosecutors have said they embrace the law,
and their open files mean they've more than met any obligations.
Prosecutors have now promised in a letter that if they find exonerating
material within the meaning of the law, they'll bring that evidence to the
defendants' attention, noting that exceeds their legal obligation.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake has invited a request to settle the dispute
in the case against Skilling, Causey and ex-Enron Chairman Ken Lay. The
judge was concerned that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and the
two sides aren't working from the same page on even what an exonerating
document is under the law.
"I gather there's a definitional distinction as to what's required," the
judge said.
Lake asked the defense lawyers to file a motion and Petrocelli said they
would, likely in October.
The defense attorneys are hopeful because the judge wants to consider the
issue, but it's unclear how much he would demand of the government.
"It's a murky area. The cases point in different directions," said Scott
Sundby, a criminal law professor at Washington and Lee School of Law in
Virginia who has written about this law. "There are two competing strands,
and neither clearly triumphs here."
Argument is credible
Sundby said the defense has a credible argument in saying the volume of
evidence in this case makes their job impossible without government aid.
He said although these defendants may not seem as helpless as indigents
facing the death penalty, even millions of dollars of resources may be
insufficient to find everything helpful in 50 million or more documents.
But Sundby said that at the same time, the government does not have an
obligation to make the defense's case.
Prosecutors do not have to point out anything that could help a defense
theory - like the one that the ex-executives relied on their lawyers and
accountants. He said although prosecutors should seek justice and not just
a win, they do not have to do the jobs of the defense lawyers.
Reading would take years
Defense lawyers note that even spending a minute on each of 50 million
documents would take years.
Causey's Washington-based lawyer, Reid Weingarten, told Lake this month
his client doesn't have the vast trial team hired by Skilling, who set
aside $23 million to pay his lawyers.
"Unless we have a situation where in a reasonably short period of time the
government sort of circles really what documents are at issue ... we're at
sea," Weingarten said.
Mike Ramsey, a Houston-based attorney for Lay, has not entered this fight
because he's still hoping for a speedy trial and hasn't asked the
government for any pre-trial evidence.
"The Brady (case law) is really cloudy," Ramsey said.
But it is clear, he said, that prosecutors will have to follow whatever
Lake prescribes.
***********************
HPD errors spark new review of DNA cases----DA considering charges for
some crime lab analysts
Some cases involving DNA evidence originally analyzed by Houston's
troubled crime lab may not be on the list for retesting because of police
errors, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Friday.
He also said his office is considering criminal charges against analysts
from the Houston Police Department crime lab who may have falsified
information in an audit.
The latest concerns about the HPD crime lab come after a startling
announcement this week by Chief Harold Hurtt that evidence from 8,000
cases, some as old as 25 years, was improperly tagged and stored. The
evidence was found in 280 mislabeled boxes in the HPD property room that
internal investigators began to open last week.
The evidence debacle could have been discovered as long as 10 years ago,
City Controller Annise Parker said Friday, had HPD officials cooperated
with an audit of the evidence room.
One of Parker's predecessors, George Greanias, had complained that HPD,
under former Chief Sam Nuchia, denied auditors access to records and
property during a 1994 audit. Greanias called the restrictions
"excessive." A similar 1997 effort also was scuttled, Parker said.
Scope widening
The HPD crime lab first came under scrutiny in December 2002, when DNA
testing was suspended amid questions about the quality and accuracy of the
analysts' work. Shortly after the DNA division was shut down, the district
attorney's office began to assemble a list of cases to be retested.
Prosecutors culled the list, which stands at 379 cases, from more than
1,300 identified by HPD as likely using DNA evidence.
Friday, Rosenthal said he was concerned that HPD's original list of 1,300
cases may not have been comprehensive.
Prosecutors this week came across a case in which DNA evidence was used to
convict a man of aggravated robbery. But HPD failed to refer the case to
the district attorney's office as a candidate for retesting.
"That was kind of the weak link early on," Rosenthal said. "If the initial
information (HPD) sent us was not accurate, there are potentially other
cases that we need to retest that we don't know about and that is a
problem."
Police Chief Hurtt said, through a spokesman, that he had not determined
why the case was not included.
Hurtt was so troubled by the oversight that he immediately ordered another
comprehensive review of cases from the DNA division that might require
retesting, a spokesman said.
"Effective immediately we will go back and examine each and every
supplemental report entered by DNA analysts dating back to the beginning
of their tenures in that division," HPD spokesman John Cannon said.
The review could require the study of thousands of documents, Cannon said.
Hurtt, who joined the department in March, ordered the review even as HPD
juggles several other crime lab investigations, including probes into the
mislabeled evidence and into the lab's toxicology section.
"We are not taking any chances at all," Cannon said.
Charges possible
Meanwhile, Rosenthal said his office continues to examine the crime lab
for criminal wrongdoing. Prosecutors have focused on audits completed by
DNA division analysts prior to the suspension of testing in December 2002.
"There was an audit done for DPS that asked whether all of the people in
the lab had the right education and hours of training," Rosenthal said.
"It is apparent that some of the things written in the audit did not
reflect what was going on in the lab."
None of the analysts working in the DNA division when testing was
suspended met national standards for training and education. But,
Rosenthal pointed out, the in-house audit said they were qualified.
Prosecutors are considering charges such as tampering with a government
record against employees who completed the audit, he said.
2 grand juries studied HPD's crime lab problems last year, but returned no
indictments. Allegations of criminal wrongdoing, primarily perjury, have
been leveled against several crime lab employees, but no one has been
charged.
The district attorney's office said its investigation is continuing and
that action in connection with the audits could be taken as soon as next
month.
(source for all: Houston Chronicle)
*********************
Camacho's trial delayed
Defense attorneys for a mother charged with decapitating her 3 children
will get more time to prepare their case, after the presiding judge agreed
Thursday to push back the September trial date.
Angela Camacho's defense attorney, Ernesto Pullen, said he and his
co-counsel Ernesto Gamez should be able to work through the case's pending
pretrial matters within 6 months.
"We're shooting for a February trial, if we can work a date out with the
prosecution," Pullen said.
Several aspects of the case remain at issue - primarily whether Judge
Benjamin Euresti will make a decision on Camacho's claims of retardation.
A favorable decision would exempt her from the death penalty, as per a
2002 Supreme Court ruling.
Her attorneys have submitted a psychiatrist's report that marks Camacho
well below the retardation line.
Prosecutors asked Euresti to allow a psychiatrist chosen by the
prosecution to conduct independent analyses of Camacho's possible
retardation.
Euresti granted that request in June, and gave prosecution 2 weeks to
provide the court with a list of experts who could conduct the evaluation.
Although prosecution has submitted their list of experts, Euresti has not
yet chosen one to review Camacho's possible retardation.
"We have a lot of issues still to work through," said prosecutor Karen
Betancourt.
Betancourt said that she expects Euresti to soon make his decision, but
that the issue is one of several that still need to be resolved.
Other issues are also unsettled, including a defense motion to suppress
confessions that Camacho made to police in the days after the murders in
March 2003.
Camacho made 2 statements to police, connecting herself to the crime by
admitting that she handed at least 1 knife to her common-law husband John
Allen Rubio, 23, after he broke blades and handles while sawing off their
children's heads.
Rubio was sentenced to the death penalty in November for the killings and
awaits an appeal.
Camacho faces 3 counts of capital murder.
(source: The Brownsville Herald)
*********************
Buenka Adams Sentencing Phase Continues
(EDITORS NOTE: It is the policy of the Tyler Morning Telegraph to protect
the identities of victims of sexual assault. However, Nikki Ansley Dement
went public with the Tyler newspaper on the details and gave permission to
use her name)
In Palestine, sentencing is expected to continue Saturday in the trial of
Beunka Adams, convicted of capital murder in the 2002 slaying of Kenneth
Vandever. Adams faces the death penalty or life in prison.
An Anderson County jury rendered the guilty verdict late Thursday night.
Adams, 21, and co-defendant Richard Cobb, 19, both of Rusk, entered the
BDJ convenience store in Rusk around midnight on Sept. 2, 2002, demanded
money, then forced store clerks Nikki Dement, 21, Candace Driver, 25, and
customer Vandever into a waiting Cadillac.
The suspects then drove the three kidnapping victims to a remote pea patch
on County Road 2434, just outside of Alto, and put Vandever and Mrs.
Driver in the trunk of the Cadillac while Mrs. Dement was led to another
area and sexually assaulted by Adams as Cobb stood over the pair with a
shotgun.
Mrs. Dement and Mrs. Driver said Adams and Cobb then forced the 3 victims
to kneel in the pasture and shot them.
Earlier this year, Cobb received the death penalty by a Cherokee County
jury.
In closing arguments, the defense team of Don Killings-worth and Sten
Langsjoen told jurors that Adams did not set out on the night of the
shooting with the intention of killing anyone.
(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)
************************* ----- Juvenile could face death penalty
Suspects arrested in murder case
Pasadena police arrested Ernesto Salinas, 17, Julio Marines, 21, and Oscar
Martinez, 22, on Tuesday for the shooting deaths of Samuel Ruiz, 25, on
July 21 and Justin Rodriguez, 24, on Monday.
Police believe the motive behind the murders was to steal the victims'
vehicles. Salinas and Martinez are both charged with 2 counts of capital
murder, and Marines is charged with 1 count of aggravated kidnapping.
In Texas, a 17-year-old can be tried as an adult for a felony offense, and
in a capital felony offense the death penalty can be sought.
Pasadena police and Ruiz's family - mother, wife and 3 children - recently
made a public plea for information and offered a $5,000 reward as Ruiz's
month-old murder investigation grew stale.
Ruiz, from Houston, was found lying in a pool of blood in front of a
vacant house at 806 Cavalier Lane. His family said he left for work early
on the morning of July 21, but by 9 a.m., a man hunting for area garage
sales spotted Ruiz's body.
Police said Cavalier Lane residents heard gun shots shortly after 6 a.m.
and then a car speeding away, but there were no witnesses to the crime,
and Ruiz's car was reported stolen.
Police believe Salinas and Martinez shot Ruiz in the head and Marines
assisted in kidnapping him and stealing the car.
On Monday, residents in the 1300 block of Richard Avenue heard a single
gun shot around 4 p.m. An alarmed neighbor said he went outside and saw 2
Hispanic men pushing a body out of their car. The neighbor, who asked to
remain unnamed, said he tried to aid Rodriguez, who had been shot in the
face, but his attempts to talk were inaudible.
Rodriguez died later that day at Memorial Hermann Hospital, and the police
discovered the car the men were seen fleeing the scene in was registered
to the victim. Pasadena investigators refused to detail how they connected
Salinas, Marines and Martinez to the murders, but said "evidence" they
found at Richard Avenue led them to the suspects.
Police said other suspects may be involved in the carjackings, and
additional charges are pending against the 3 men for other crimes
committed in Pasadena.
Salinas and Marines both have no criminal history in Harris County, but
Martinez's past includes jail time and carjackings.
In 2001, Martinez was arrested for stealing a car and served 8 months in
jail. In 2002, he was arrested for the same offense and sentenced to one
year in jail. In April, he served 45 days in jail after pleading guilty to
trespassing, and in May he was arrested for the same offense in Pasadena,
but it was dismissed.
During the May arrest, Martinez was charged with possession of marijuana
and was sentenced to 70 days in jail. However, he was released early, at
which time police believe he began another string of carjackings that
started with Ruiz's death.
(source: The Pasadena Citizen)
***************************
Attorneys say suspect did not intend to kill 2-year-old boy
In Dallas, attorneys for the man who confessed to the beating death of a
Cockrell Hill toddler this month will try to keep him off death row by
proving his actions were unintentional.
The strategy was indicated Friday following an examining trial for
Francisco Javier Lugo, 26, who was arrested Aug. 11 in the beating death
of 2-year-old Andrew Pineda.
Lugo listened quietly to the proceedings, which were translated for him by
a Spanish interpreter. Judge Dan Wyde agreed with prosecutors that there
was sufficient probable cause to keep Lugo in custody at the Lew Sterrett
Justice Center to await scrutiny by a Dallas County grand jury.
Assistant District Attorney Howard Blackmon said prosecutors will seek a
capital murder indictment against Lugo, but they had not yet decided
whether to push for the death penalty.
If the death penalty is sought, Lugo's attorney indicated that he will
show the suspect didn't mean to kill the child.
"Our position is that, certainly, there was no intent," Johnson said. "In
order to find someone guilty of capital murder, you have to prove they
knowingly committed the crime with intent."
During the hearing, Johnson asked Detective Robert Bjorklund of the Dallas
County Sheriff's Office if he had evidence that would show the beating was
intentional.
"He admitted to it in a voluntary statement," Bjorklund responded. "When
you go and pummel a kid, and ruin every major organ in his body, what's
his intention?
"That's pretty strong intentions on a little kid."
Bjorklund said investigators learned that Lugo had a relationship with
Merari Pineda, 29, the victim's mother.
Blackmon said that Lugo had been convicted of assaulting her, and that she
had received a protective order against him. Nevertheless, Bjorklund said,
she put the child and three siblings, ages 5, 4 and 1, in his care on Aug.
11, while she was at work.
He said Lugo's actions were observed by the 5-year-old sister.
"The girl said she heard loud noises coming from the brother's bedroom,"
Bjorklund said. "She went up there and observed [Lugo] beating the kid,
throwing him round and pulling his hair.
"She witnessed the killing, basically."
Bjorklund said that when the mother came home, Lugo told her that her son
was dead. She called 911, and Lugo was subsequently arrested.
In his statement to detectives, Lugo said he snapped under stress from
taking care of the children.
"He said he was mad at the kid for banging on the wall," Bjorklund said.
"That's what set him off."
The detective said that an autopsy showed the child died of blunt force
trauma, and that all his major organs were damaged.
Lugo is being held on $500,000 bail, but U.S. Immigration officials have
also placed a hold on him. The other children remained in foster care
Friday, said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Child Protective
Services.
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
