Oct. 24
TEXAS:
Prosecutors pan Alley's Exonerated
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's response to my offer to pay the way
for up to 12 felony prosecutors to see The Exonerated at the Alley Theatre
was a single sentence: "I'll go if you sit through a capital murder
trial."
I told him I was asking for 2 hours. He was asking for at least 2 weeks.
Plus, I've covered murder trials in their entirety. They weren't capital
murder trials, but that's only because they weren't in Texas.
I also told him of stories I had written that helped lead to criminal
convictions.
My point to Rosenthal was that I am not a fan of murderers. I believe the
vast majority of suspects tried for murder are guilty.
But not all are, and I wondered how prosecutors would react to a play that
told the stories of 5 men and a woman who were wrongfully convicted and
sent to death row.
Outrage and tears
The play, effectively performed by the Alley's resident company, has had
its desired effect on audiences: outrage and tears.
Although Rosenthal didn't take the offer, 3 of his prosecutors did. A few
days afterward we had drinks at Birraporetti's, a theater-district bar and
restaurant, to discuss their reaction.
To encourage openness, I told them the conversation would be on
background, no names used. The 2 women and a man were articulate,
thoughtful and likable.
And how did they react to the play? Like, well, prosecutors.
While the actors were telling the stories of the 6 characters, the
prosecutors were, in their heads, cross-examining them.
There is, in drama, a concept called "suspension of disbelief." It is that
mental mechanism that lets us shed tears for Tiny Tim at every December
performance of A Christmas Carol, despite our knowledge that Tiny Tim
never lived.
Disbelief unsuspended
Not surprisingly, these prosecutors were not willing to suspend their
disbelief for a play that the playwrights contend is actually true.
I'll give just one example. One of the characters, Kerry Max Cook, told of
the repeated and brutal rapes he had suffered while on Texas' death row.
One of the prosecutors said it couldn't have happened. Prisoners on death
row are isolated from each other.
So while the audience was stunned by Cook's story, the prosecutor was
nailing him as a liar.
Who was right?
I called Larry Fitzgerald, who recently retired after a long career as
public information officer for the prison system. The prosecutor is right,
he said, as of now.
But before death row was moved about 5 years ago, prisoners did mix in a
work program, at chapel and under other circumstances.
Fitzgerald said he thought it was unlikely that a prisoner would be
repeatedly raped, but it was possible.
This one example shows the eternal dynamic of solving and trying crimes.
Few things are perfectly clear.
I tell my lawyer friends I know they'll never lie to me. They'll always
tell me half the truth.
They laugh. That's their job. It's the other lawyer's job to tell the
other half.
But the prosecutors raised some good issues.
And in boiling down 6 stories, each of which produced thousands of pages
of transcripts, depositions, scientific reports and other evidence, the
husband-and-wife playwrights of The Exonerated were themselves able to
present only a small portion of each story.
Playwright Jessica Blank insisted Friday that the play was accurate. She
and her husband, she said, read the entire transcripts and case files of
all 6 characters and conducted extensive interviews.
"We didn't take people's word at face value," she said.
Still, it is the job of playwrights, like trial lawyers, to move their
audiences. They select carefully which parts of those thousands of pages
to present with that in mind.
I think most audiences understand that. And most in the audiences for this
play were open to the emotional impact of the personal injustice of being
wrongfully convicted.
The prosecutors weren't.
The lesson I learned, with apologies to Hamlet, is that the play's not the
thing wherein we'll catch the conscience of a prosecutor.
(source: Rick Casey, Houston Chronicle)
**********************
Public's help sought in 1979 'Orange Socks' slaying
For 25 years, the woman found dead in a concrete culvert along Interstate
35 has been known simply as "Orange Socks."
Law enforcement officials believe it's finally time they learn her name
and who she was.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is again asking the public for help
in identifying the woman whose slaying landed the notorious Henry Lee
Lucas on death row.
"Someone somewhere knows who this young woman was," said Heidi Fischer,
program supervisor for the department's Missing Persons Clearinghouse.
"We want to find out who she is and be able to finally give her a real
name, not a nickname. We want to know who her family is, and we want her
family to know what happened to her," Fischer said.
Texas officials are rereleasing a 1990 drawing of the woman, along with a
detailed drawing of an oval-shaped abalone shell/silver ring she was
wearing.
Lucas, who once confessed to 600 murders nationwide but later recanted
them all, was convicted in 1984 of strangling "Orange Socks," so named by
investigators because she was wearing only socks when she was found.
Her body was dumped near Georgetown, about 35 miles north of Austin in
Williamson County, on Halloween 1979.
No witnesses or physical evidence linked Lucas to the crime, but he
confessed 4 times. A jury in San Angelo convicted him and sentenced him to
death.
Although he had 8 other murder convictions in Texas and 1 in West
Virginia, only the Orange Socks case produced a death sentence.
Doubts were later raised about Lucas' confession after news reports and an
attorney general's investigation indicated that he might have been in
Florida when she was killed. In 1998, Gov. George W. Bush commuted Lucas'
sentence to life in prison.
Lucas died in prison in 2001.
Orange Socks was white and in her mid-20s. She was 5 feet 9 inches tall
and weighed 135 to 140 pounds. She had brown hair with a reddish tint,
hazel eyes and pierced ears. Her teeth were in good condition with no
evidence of dental work.
Lucas gave what he thought her name was in his signed confession in 1983.
"I think her name was Joanie or Judy -- I don't remember exactly," he
wrote.
Tricia Blake, a researcher at the Missing Persons Clearinghouse, said
investigators don't put much stock in that, given Lucas' track record of
potentially misleading statements.
"He confessed to all kinds of things. When we do have a lead that comes in
and the name pops up, the hackles go up a bit, but we're certainly not
limiting it to a name," she said.
IN THE KNOW
How to help
Anyone with information about "Orange Socks" can contact the Texas
Department of Public Safety's Missing Persons Clearinghouse at (800)
346-3243 in Texas or (512) 424-5074 from outside Texas.
(source: Associated Press)
**********************
Gladewater Man Convicted
In Longview, a Gregg County jury found 27-year-old Aaron Ray Higginbotham
guilty of capital murder Thursday.
Higginbotham received an automatic capital life sentence, which means he
will have to serve 40 years in prison before being eligible for parole,
according to the district attorney's office.
Higginbotham is one of two Gladewater men charged in connection with the
beating death of 18-year-old Michael Anthony Hendrix, whose body was
discovered in the Sabine River in June 2003.
Michael Dwan Kay, 28, is also charged in connection with the teen's death.
His trial date has not yet been determined.
Gregg County Assistant District Attorney Lance Larison, who prosecuted the
case along with District Attorney Bill Jennings, said the jury took about
one hour and 15 minutes to return the verdict shortly after 5 p.m.
Thursday.
Testimony in Higginbotham's trial began Tuesday.
The testimony Tuesday revealed Higginbotham and Kay met Hendrix, whom they
did not know previously, at a topless club in Kilgore on the night of June
24, 2003.
The 3 later left together in Hendrix's vehicle. Later that night, Hendrix
was beaten, put into the back of his pickup and thrown into the river,
prosecutors said. Later in Upshur County, Higginbotham and Kay fled
authorities, who were trying to stop them for a possible DWI. After
separating from each other, Higginbotham fled from authorities again in a
stolen welding truck, prosecutors said. He was later apprehended in a
house in Cass County.
The prosecution rested its case Wednesday after presenting DNA evidence
that showed Higginbotham and Kay's clothes had Hendrix's blood on them,
Larison said.
He said a pathologist also testified Hendrix suffered multiple injuries,
including a skull fracture, hinge fracture, five broken ribs, broken nose,
broken jawbone, broken facial bone, as well as internal injuries.
It was not clear if Hendrix died before or after he was thrown in the
Sabine River.
Larison said Friday it was a "sadistic" beating. But the defense put on
Higginbotham's grandparents and mother to testify he was not a violent
person.
Defense attorney Tim Cone said Higginbotham also testified "he knew he was
involved in the death, but his entire purpose that night was to get high
on drugs and alcohol and try to forget the anxiety he was feeling
regarding the breakup of his family."
His wife was allegedly leaving him and taking his young daughter.
A Longview psychiatrist also testified Higginbotham acted "recklessly,"
not intentionally or knowingly, Cone said.
Cone had said in his opening statements the evidence would show "violence
is not in his character."
The defense had also said Higginbotham was "instrumental" in solving the
case for law enforcement because he led them to Hendrix's body.
But Larison said "it's easy to be instrumental in solving a crime when you
were instrumental in committing the crime."
Cone said he understands and accepts the verdict but was disappointed with
it.
"We're always saddened by the death of a young man such as Mr. Hendrix,"
he said. "That's a terrible tragedy in any circumstance. However, Mr.
Higginbotham, we believe, acted recklessly as opposed to intentionally or
knowingly."
Larison said Friday that Hendrix's family was "very pleased with the
verdict."
"Obviously, we've got another case to try," he said. "They've asked me to
thank all the law enforcement officers they didn't get to talk to."
Kay's trial likely will not happen before the beginning of the next year,
Larison said.
He said the district attorney's office is "still evaluating the death
penalty option."
(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)
*****************************
No verdict in double murder--Jury to deliberate again on Monday
Jury members adjourned for the weekend on Friday night without reaching a
verdict in the case of Carlos Lopez, who is accused of murder in the 1992
stabbing deaths of 2 elderly women in a Calallen hospital.
They will resume deliberations on Monday.
At the time of the killings, Lopez, 48, said he believed 89-year-old Mary
Kocurek and 80-year-old Estefana Munoz to be witches.
Lopez had claimed Munoz's granddaughter Mary Lou Munoz placed a witch's
curse on him.
In August, Lopez was deemed mentally competent to stand trial for capital
murder after spending more than a decade in a hospital for mentally ill
defendants.
During the trial, prosecutors have argued that though Lopez was mentally
ill at the time of the stabbings, he was sane enough to know that what he
was doing was wrong.
"He killed his target and he killed his witness," prosecutor Gail Gleimer
said during closing arguments. "He knew what he was doing was wrong. He
was intending to kill her."
Defense attorneys argued Lopez was insane during the killings and Lopez's
belief that the women were witches was a part of his severe mental
illness.
"This is not a cultural thing, this is a mental disease," said Fred
Jimenez, defense attorney. "The state is grabbing at straws because it has
an overwhelming insanity case in front of them."
During the trial, Joel Kutnick, a clinical psychiatrist who has examined
Lopez several times since the killings, testified Lopez suffered from
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Prosecutors questioned whether the
killing triggered Lopez's mental collapse and pointed to a 1991 diagnosis
that he suffered from depression, not schizophrenia.
Kutnick testified that it's possible the stabbings triggered his severe
mental illness, but Lopez's bizarre behavior and statements before the
incident indicated that he may not have known that what he was doing was
wrong.
The jury began deliberations on Friday.
(source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
**********************
Massacre hearing begins -- Defense in Edinburg murders argues defendant
denied right to an attorney
Defense attorneys for 1 of 10 alleged Tri-City Bomber gang members charged
with the brutal shooting deaths of 6 men accused the Edinburg Police
Department of making a practice of denying accused persons access to
attorneys.
Attorneys for Juan Raul Navarro Ramirez, 20, cited the cases of Ramirez,
of Donna, and Robert "Bones" Gene Garza, 21, of Pharr.
Garza was sentenced to death last December for a separate multiplehomicide
in which 4 Donna barmaids were killed on Sept. 5, 2002.
Garza is also charged in the Edinburg murders, but prosecutor Joseph
Orendain has said they will not pursue those charges.
The 2 crimes have been described as among the worst in Hidalgo Countys
history. Alleged members of the Tri-City Bombers gang, based in the
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo area, have been charged in both.
Ramirez, who has pleaded innocent to capital murder charges, is facing the
death penalty in a jury trial expected to commence by the end of the year.
He is the first of 10 men to stand trial who are all in custody at the
Hidalgo County Jail.
"I reviewed that (Garzas) statement and he does ask for an attorney," said
Rolando Garza, one of Ramirezs defense attorneys and no apparent relation
to Robert Garza. "As shown, this type of (technique of denying the accused
rights to attorneys) was being carried on right here."
The accusations of denying the accused access to attorneys came about
during a pretrial hearing Friday in Judge Noe Gonzalezs 370 th state
District Court in the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg. Ramirezs
attorneys sought to suppress a 20-minute recording of a statement that
Ramirez gave detailing the Jan. 5, 2003, massacre.
Gonzalez made no ruling Friday and will continue the hearing today.
Throughout the hearing, Gonzalez appeared skeptical about the defense
attorneys accusations the Edinburg Police Department denied Ramirez and
others their right to speak with attorneys.
"Dont give me that," Gonzalez said to Rolando Garza upon Garzas suggestion
that the Edinburg police were habitually ignoring defendants rights to
have attorneys present at questioning. "Are you telling me that there is a
pattern that these officers have in all these cases?"
Gonzalez also said that a difference existed between a person telling a
police officer that they have an attorney and that they want to speak with
an attorney.
Edinburg police investigators testifying Friday denied the accusations,
saying that Garza and Ramirez spoke to them voluntarily.
"If he would have asked for a lawyer, your honor, I probably wouldve
stopped" interrogating Garza, Ruiz said in response to a question posed by
Gonzalez.
Garza and Ramirez were arrested on Jan. 29, 2003 - more than 3 weeks after
the Jan. 5 incident where police have alleged that members of the gang
raided 2 small houses on Monte Cristo Road.
Police believe the men expected to find drugs and weapons but opened fire
on the occupants when neither were found.
6 Edinburg men, several of whom had ties to a rival prison gang, the Texas
Chicano Brotherhood, were found shot to death. The slain men were shot to
the extent that their faces were difficult to identify, police have said.
Members of the Tri-City Bombers are also linked to the separate
multiple-slaying in Donna where 4 barmaids were shot to death after gang
members mistakenly followed the wrong car of women home from Garcias
Place, a downtown Donna bar.
The bartender and owner of the bar had been scheduled to testify against a
Tri-City Bomber member in an attempted murder trial earlier that summer.
In his statement, Ramirez describes the Monte Cristo Road raid, but does
not identity himself as a shooter. Prosecutors have theorized that Ramirez
was one of the shooters.
Ramirez does describe tying up a "victim" and hitting him with a skillet,
according to the recorded statement. He is read his Miranda rights and at
no point during the recorded statement does he ask for an attorney.
"We didnt find anything (drugs or weapons) so, I started beating him up
and I hit him with a pan, a couple of times," Ramirez said in the
statement. He went on to describe hearing gunshots and then fleeing the
area.
"After a while we heard, we heard, we heard a couple of gunshots, some
more gunshots, a lot of gunshots," he said. He added, "Everyone starting
running out saying, Lets go, lets go."
Ramirez is expected to testify today about how he was interrogated by
police as Gonzalez continues to hear evidence for the motion to suppress.
A portion of Garzas statement was played in the courtroom while court was
not in session.
While being read his Miranda rights by Edinburg Police Investigator Ramiro
Ruiz, Garza asks for an attorney.
"Is there any way I can get a lawyer?" Garza is heard asking, adding that
he had been trying to get in contact with a lawyer all day.
Ruiz responds, "You want to wait, its up to you. We cannot force you to do
anything you dont want to do."
Garza continues to give a statement, the contents of which were not played
in court Friday.
In a phone interview with a Monitor reporter, Jeffrey "Dragon" Juarez, 29,
described by police as the head of the Tri-City Bomber gang and also
facing the death penalty for the Monte Cristo massacres, said that police
mishandled the arrests of himself and other alleged gang members.
"They (Edinburg police investigators) were making a lot of errors
throughout their interrogations," Juarez said. "The way they got their
statement, they were all wrong."
He added, "The days of the arrest are affecting them to this day. Its
backfiring on them, on the way theyve made the arrests."
In the hearing Friday, a woman testified about the Jan. 29, 2003, arrest
of Ramirez. Ramirez was staying at his aunts house in Hargill when a large
number of police descended upon the trailer he was in.
The woman, Marita Morales, said she saw a police officer videotaping the
arrest and the surrounding scene. Earlier, Edinburg Police Investigator
Danny Ochoa said no videotape was made of Ramirezs arrest because the
officer with the videocamera could not get a clear shot of the raid.
The investigation and subsequent arrests of more than a dozen men
implicated in the Monte Cristo and Donna homicides involved the Edinburg
Police Department, the primary investigators of the Monte Cristo massacre,
the Hidalgo County Sheriffs Department, who were in charge of solving the
Donna barmaid homicides, the Texas Rangers and several federal law
enforcement agencies.
Charged alongside Ramirez, Garza and Juarez with capital murder in the
Monte Cristo slayings are Humberto "Gallo" Garza, 30, Marcial Mata
Bocanegra, 27, Juan "Juanon" Arturo Villarreal Cordova, 35, Roberto
"Robbie" Cantu, 25, Salvador "Little Sal " Solis, 27, Jorge Norberto
"Choche" Martinez, 39, Reymundo "Kito" Sauceda, 29, and Rodolfo "Creeper"
Medrano, 25.
A 12 th man, Juan Miguel "Perro " Nuez, 29, is still wanted by Edinburg
police for capital murder charges in relation to the shootings.
In relation to the Donna barmaid slayings, Medrano, Mark Anthony "Snoop"
Reyna, 25, and Guadalupe "Lupio" Guerra, 22, were also initially charged.
The capital murder charges were dropped against both Reyna and Guerra.
Guerra went to state prison after being convicted on an unrelated deadly
contact charge. In his plea bargain, Reyna received a life sentence after
he claimed responsibility in a Nov. 13, 2002, attempted armed robbery of a
McAllen Super 8 Motel and a Nov. 17, 2002, armed robbery of a Circle K
store.
(source: The Monitor)
