Oct. 26
TEXAS----stay of impending execution
Questions about crime lab evidence halt execution
A federal judge granted condemned inmate Dominique Green a reprieve today,
just hours before he was scheduled to be put to death for the slaying of a
Houston man in 1992.
State lawyers began working to get the stay of execution lifted.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas blocked the execution after Green's
attorneys argued that boxes of improperly stored and catalogued evidence
kept by the Houston Police Department crime lab and recently discovered
could contain information relevant to the case.
Green's execution, scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT, should be stopped until
attorneys can look through all the files, they argued.
Green was convicted of gunning down Andrew Lastrapes Jr. during a $50
robbery outside a Houston convenience store. The victim's widow and two
sons asked for mercy, but the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused
to issue a reprieve or commute his sentence to life in prison.
Religious leaders including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu and
the Rev. Joseph Fiorenza, the Roman Catholic bishop of Galveston-Houston,
opposed executing Green.
Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the Texas attorney general's office,
said state lawyers, who handle capital-case appeals when they reach the
federal courts, would be appealing to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in New Orleans to get the reprieve overturned.
David Dow, one of Green's lawyers, said he expected the case would wind up
Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court.
(source: Associated Press)
**********************
Victim's widow wants state to hold off on man's execution
You can always kill them later. But you can't bring them back from the
dead.
That is why Gov. Rick Perry should call a temporary halt on executions of
death row inmates from Harris County. Concerns about the reliability and
accuracy of certain evidence are serious enough that the Houston police
chief asked the state to stop executions of Harris County offenders
pending re-evaluation of that evidence.
Given the circumstances, it's the prudent thing to do.
The case of Dominique Green should compel even the most devout capital
murder supporter to pause. Green was convicted and sentenced to death in
connection with the 1992 robbery that left Andrew Lastrapes Jr., 44, dead.
Green, 18 at the time of the crime, confessed to the robbery but denied
being the trigger man. A co-defendant who testified against Green received
reduced charges. Another man who admitted involvement in the crime was not
charged at all.
Evidence used against Green at his trial was processed through the Houston
police crime lab, which has been troubled by confirmed reports of shoddy
work in processing ballistics, DNA and toxicological evidence. This
summer, 280 boxes of mis-tagged and misplaced evidence in 8,000 criminal
cases were discovered, prompting Police Chief Harold Hurtt to ask that
executions of Harris County inmates be suspended, pending an investigation
by the justice system of the evidence that goes back as long as 25 years.
The revelations were such that the victim's widow, Bernatte Luckett
Lastrapes, asked that Green's execution be stayed once she learned that
evidence in the case was processed by the Houston police crime lab.
Moreover, she has raised new questions about whether Green, who is African
American, was denied a fair trial because of his race. She points out that
the white man who admitted involvement in the robbery and shooting was not
charged at all.
The 3 black defendants were convicted, and only one of them - Green - was
sentenced to death.
Lastrapes expressed those concerns to Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles in a letter: "I was especially disturbed at the trial that the
white boy did not spend any time in jail.
"And yet (Green) received the death penalty! Where is the justice in
that?" she wrote.
Where, indeed.
Her son, Andre, who was 10 years old when his father died, also asks that
Green be spared lethal injection. Bernatte Lastrapes and her 2 sons worry
that evidence that might resolve Green's role in the killing is somewhere
in those police crime lab boxes.
The state hasn't been in a rush before now to kill Green, who has been on
Death Row for 11 years, so what's the harm in waiting a little longer
until the doubts are resolved? The state can always take Green's life
later, but it can't bring him back if he is executed now.
(source: Editorial, Austin American-Statesman)
*************************
Lawyers to pick jury in Walter trial----Testimony in Outback case to begin
Nov. 8
In McKinney, jury selection begins today in Collin County for one of 2
suspects who authorities say killed three Texarkana Outback Steakhouse
employees.
Fifth District Judge Ralph Burgess will preside over the culling of 12
jurors plus two alternates to hear Bowie County's case against Stephon
Lavelle Walter, 25, of Texarkana, Texas. Burgess moved the case to Collin
County because of pretrial publicity raised concerns about the ability for
Walter to receive a fair trial in his home county.
Authorities say that Walter, on Sept. 1, 2003, shot to death Outback's
proprietor, Matt Hines and employees Rebecca Shifflett and Chrystal
Willis.
Last week, the 184-person jury pool was called to court in Collin County
by Burgess. After excuses were heard, Burgess dismissed 43 jurors, leaving
141 to be certified for the actual panel. Bowie County District Clerk
Billy Fox and her deputy clerks will likely take turns working with the
jury panel in Collin County from now until the trial ends.
Jurors were given questionnaires that were due back on Oct. 14 where they
were to answer questions related to their belief on the death penalty.
When the panel convenes today, the panel will be "death certified." This
means that potential jurors will be "qualified" to hear a death penalty
case.
Assistant District Attorneys Mike Shepherd and Adam Fellows as well as
Walter's court appointed lawyers, Jeff Harrelson and Ray Keith, will begin
interviewing potential jurors individually today.
The schedule, officials say, is for Burgess to call in a dozen jurors for
questioning today and Tuesday and then 15 a day until the jury is seated.
Testimony in the trial is to begin on Nov. 8.
(source: Texarkana Gazette)
********************
Hopefuls clash on approach to office----Incumbent says challenger lacks
experience and in turn is called an 'embarrassment' Attorney
In the only debate in the race for the Harris County District Attorney's
Office, incumbent Chuck Rosenthal cited his challenger's lack of
experience while Reginald McKamie called Rosenthal an "embarrassment" to
the county.
Rosenthal, a Republican seeking a second term after spending more than two
decades as an assistant prosecutor, dismissed the claims of his Democratic
challenger, Reginald McKamie. At times, Rosenthal schooled McKamie on
criminal law during the debate Sunday at St. Thomas University.
"The records I found showed (McKamie) has only handled 40 criminal clients
in 18 years ... and that is not enough to acquaint him with criminal
law,"said Rosenthal, adding his opponent has never worked as a prosecutor.
"It would be like me thinking I could be a captain in the U.S. Naval
Reserves (like McKamie) just because I had driven a motorboat," Rosenthal
said.
But McKamie countered that George W. Bush became governor without prior
public office experience.
"The DA's job is more of an administrative one in Harris County," McKamie
said.
"The big issue is what will the chief prosecutor do to set policy."
McKamie, a personal injury attorney who has practiced law for 18 years,
criticized Rosenthal for his willingness to seek the death penalty.
"If Harris County were a state, it would rank 3rd behind Texas and
Virginia in the numbers of persons being sent to death row."
He advocated creating an alternative punishment - a life sentence without
the possibility of parole.
McKamie said a death sentence is irreversible and that mistakes can be
made.
He cited 3 cases in which mistakes freed men convicted in Harris County:
those of Josiah Sutton, who received a pardon in May after spending 4
years in prison for a 1998 rape that was based on faulty DNA evidence;
Anthony Robinson, who was pardoned in 2000 after 10 years in prison for a
sexual assault that DNA testing indicated he did not commit; and George
Rodriguez, who was released this month after spending 17 years in prison
for a kidnapping and rape conviction based on faulty DNA testing.
Rodriguez's case is being considered for possible retrial.
McKamie said DNA tests should be used to exonerate as well as prosecute:
"The real criminals are still out there."
(source: Houston Chronicle)
****************
Capital Murder Defendant Has Long Criminal History
A capital murder defendant suspected of leading a violent street gang,
ordering murders and bringing in large quantities of drugs to Smith County
has a criminal history that began more than a decade ago with the shooting
death of his cousin.
Jamarcus Warren was 15 when he was placed on one-year juvenile probation
for the criminally negligent homicide of Kevin Rider. The offense has
since been enhanced from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony.
Causing a death by criminal negligence by law makes the actor criminally
liable if he shows such carelessness or disregard for the safety of
others.
Earlier that year, in 1992, Warren was expelled from Chapel Hill High
School.
Authorities believe the 28-year-old is the leader of the Hoover Five Deuce
Crips street gang.
Warren has been in and out of the criminal justice system since 1992, and
the culmination of his criminal record came when he was charged with the
capital murder of Shaun Pickens in January. He eluded authorities until
his August capture in Houston, and now remains in the Smith County Jail,
awaiting trial that could result in the death penalty.
Co-defendants Cor-net Meekins, Bryson Carey and Stephanie Campos have
entered into plea agreements with the state and said they will testify
against Warren in his trial next year.
This month, the state filed a notice of intent to offer five pages of
Warren's criminal history into evidence during his jury trial in 241st
Judge Jack Skeen Jr.'s court. The document lists alleged offenses,
arrests, case dismissals and convictions.
Warren has been arrested for stealing cars, aggravated assaults with
deadly weapons and causing serious bodily injury, burglaries, thefts,
robberies, aggravated assaults against public servants, unlawfully
carrying weapons, retaliation, resisting arrest and contempt of court.
In 1996, he was convicted of resisting arrest, failure to identify himself
as a fugitive from justice, theft and burglary of a vehicle, for which he
was collectively sentenced to nearly 2 years in jail.
In 1997 he was convicted of resisting arrest and was sentenced to about
one year. He admitted guilt in committing assault against two victims and
the cases were considered for his sentencing. He was also convicted for
unlawfully carrying a weapon under the alias Joseph Demon Harris, and was
sentenced to 6 months.
The court document alleges that Warren fought with two inmates while
serving time in the Smith County Jail.
In 2000, he was convicted of assault causing serious bodily injury.
His last arrest, according to the state's filed document, was in 2001 for
contempt of court.
The state's filed document accuses Warren of illegal possession and
distribution of marijuana and cocaine in Smith County, and states that he
has committed criminal acts of violence, including murders, to further the
gang's goals.
Warren has also been charged with capital murder in Gregg County for
allegedly ordering the murder of Andre Johnson.
He allegedly possessed up to 100 pounds of marijuana at a Smith County
residence on Jan. 1. He delivered about 5 pounds of marijuana to his
co-defendant, Carey, that month as remuneration for the capital murder of
Pickens, according to the document.
Defense attorney Jeff Haas was appointed to represent Warren in the Smith
County capital murder case.
Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham, First Assistant DA Brett
Harrison and Chief Felony Prosecutor April Sikes are representing the
state.
Pickens was found gunned down, his body in a vehicle parked in the
driveway of a Smith County home off of County Road 2209.
Warren's girlfriend, Lakeshia Shanaee Jones, 25, was arrested with him in
Houston and is jailed on a charge of hindering his apprehension.
(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)
***********************
Judge allows confession in massacre trial
In Edinburg, a state district judge ruled Saturday that jurors will be
able to hear the detailed confession that an alleged member of the
Tri-City Bomber gang gave implicating himself in a home invasion that
resulted in the shooting deaths of 6 men in Edinburg.
Judge Noe Gonzalez of the 370th state District made the ruling Saturday
afternoon after a days worth of testimony from an Edinburg police
investigator and the accused man. Juan Raul Navarro Ramirez, 20, of Donna,
is facing the death penalty in a capital murder trial expected to start by
the years end.
Ramirezs defense attorneys had argued that the statement was given
involuntarily and that Ramirez had asked for a lawyer and was denied
access to one.
Ramirez, who has pleaded innocent to charges, is 1 of 12 men charged with
capital murder in relation to the case. One of the 12 is still wanted by
police and another was sentenced to death last December for a separate
homicide in which 4 Donna barmaids were killed.
18 years old at the time of the shooting, Ramirez is the youngest of the
accused.
Ramirez gave a 20-minute audiotaped statement on Jan. 29, 2003, the date
of his arrest, to Edinburg police investigators describing how he and
other alleged gang members raided 2 houses at 2915 Monte Cristo Road on
Jan. 5, 2003, looking for drugs and weapons to steal. Ramirez did not
indicate that he was one of the shooters, according to the recording
statement. Prosecutor have alleged that he was one of the shooters.
Ramirezs attorney had accused the Edinburg Police Department of denying
both Ramirez and another defendant, Robert Gene "Bones" Garza, 21, of
Pharr, access to attorneys. Garza, charged in the Monte Cristo slayings,
was sentenced to death last December for the shooting deaths of the 4
Donna barmaids.
During his testimony Saturday, Ramirez said he had taken 15 "roche" pills
on Jan. 29, the day he was arrested at his aunts trailer home in Hargill
and subsequently interrogated by police. Roche pills, or Rohypnol, is also
called a "date-rape drug" when combined with alcohol but is often consumed
on its own for its sedative effects.
He fell asleep in a patrol car after his arrest and while he was being
transported to the Edinburg Police Department, he said. He also fell
asleep in a holding cell because of the influence of the roche pills, he
said.
"I was roched up so I was drowsy," Ramirez said. He also said he had no
recollection of when or what day he arrived at his aunts house. Police and
prosecutors said in the course of the hearing that police had received
information from Ramirezs sister that he was in Hargill and planned to
flee to Mexico.
Being under the influence of drugs does not protect an accused person from
being questioned, Gonzalez said during the hearing.
"In Texas, voluntary intoxication is not a defense," he said.
In his statement to police, Ramirez goes on at length describing the
planning of the home invasion. At no point does he ask for an attorney or
indicate he does not want to speak to police, according to both the
recording and a transcript of the confession. He does indicate that he
understands his Miranda rights, which are a list of rights that police
must explain to an arrested person before questioning.
Gonzalez did not rule on whether a .25-caliber handgun seized from a
duffel bag of Ramirezs upon his arrest would be admissible. Ramirez told
police where the gun was after he was asked by a police investigator. At
that point, he was handcuffed but had not been read his Miranda rights.
Defense attorneys for Ramirez argued that the gun was seized improperly
because Ramirez hadnt been informed of his right to remain silent.
Gonzalez will make a decision on the gun after both defense attorneys and
prosecutors submit their arguments on the issue.
Ramirez, along with 11 other alleged Tri-City Bomber gang members, are
charged with capital murder in connection to the shooting deaths of Jerry
Eugene Hidalgo, Ray Hidalgo, Jimmy Edward Almendariz, Juan Delgado Jr.,
Juan Delgado III and Ruben Rolando Castillo. Police have theorized that
the men were shot after it was discovered that neither drugs nor weapons
were at the houses. One woman, the mother of 2 of the victims, survived
the massacre. One of 12 men charged is still wanted by police and another
was sentenced to death for a separate homicide in which 4 Donna barmaids
were shot to death on Sept. 5, 2002.
The court had the hearing on a Saturday, not its normal practice, in order
to clear up any issues about the statement before the extensive jury
selection process begins Monday.
Charged alongside Ramirez and Garza 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, Rodolfo "Creeper" Medrano, 25, and Jeffrey
"Dragon" Juarez, 29.
A 12th man, Juan Miguel "Perro" Nuez, 29, is still wanted by Edinburg
police for capital murder charges in relation to the shootings.
Those charged with the slayings have been in custody at the Hidalgo County
Jail for more than a year and a half, while prosecutors try the cases one
at a time.
(source: The Monitor)
***************************
Accused mother meets with lawyers in pre-trial hearing
A woman accused of beating to death her 2-year-old daughter was back in
court today.
Kimberly Alexander met with her lawyers during a pre-trial hearing this
morning.
Prosecutors have yet to say if they'll seek the death penalty in this
case.
2-year-old Diamond, who died in June, had just been returned to her mother
following an investigation by Child Protective Services.
Judge Peter Sakai stepped down from the bench for a week after Diamond
died.
Gov. Rick Perry ordered a statewide investigation into Child Protective
Services, which is currently continuing.
(source: KENS 5 Eyewitness News)
**************************
Woman, 3 children found dead in Lubbock
A mother and her three children were found dead Monday at their Lubbock
apartment, police said.
Blood was scattered in the living room, hallways, kitchen and bedrooms of
the four-bedroom apartment where the bodies were found, said police
spokesman Lt. Victor Quintana.
Police said they had not determined a motive for the deaths.
"It's a very brutal and violent type of crime scene," Lubbock police Chief
Claude Jones said at an afternoon news conference. "There's a lot of
blood."
Each of the victims appeared to have suffered multiple injuries from blunt
force trauma, he said.
Investigators found no evidence of a forced entry, leading police to
believe the killer or killers knew the family, Jones said. "Tthere were
some other things that make us think that," he added.
"Our investigation is centering around this particular family and is going
outward to friends, family members, anybody who we might be able to talk
to to find out what happened at this residence," Jones said. "We'll try to
go back as far as we can, at least the past 48 hours, to see about any
arguments they might have had or some family members may have had."
The victims were identified as Tammy Cooper, 45; her daughter, Mahogany
Jasmine Allen, 11; and her twin sons, KaDiece and Kasheim Allen, 9.
Jones said investigators are trying to locate the children's father.
Autopsies will be done in Lubbock on Tuesday.
Police were called to the Windcrest Estacado Apartments shortly after 7:30
a.m. after a family friend who had stopped to pick up the children for
school found the door ajar, Quintana said. The man pushed the door open
and saw the body of one of the boys in the living room.
Tammy Cooper was last heard from about 10 p.m. Sunday, Quintana said.
Charles Thomas, who lives in a building adjacent to where the slayings
occurred, said it was quiet Sunday night.
A $10,000 reward is being offered by Gandy's Dairies for information that
leads to the arrest and grand jury indictment of the person or people
responsible for the slayings.
Lubbock school district spokesman Skip Watson said the three children had
been enrolled in the district since 2000. Watson said Cooper had moved to
Dallas with the children some time after the end of school last spring but
returned late this summer in time to register.
The children had attended four schools since 2000, Watson said.
Kathy Acy, who lives in an apartment near where the slayings occurred,
said she knew Cooper only slightly. The two used to talk as they waited
with their children at the school bus stop in the complex.
Both women in recent weeks had decided to not use the bus service, Acy
said.
Scores of residents spent several hours standing opposite the family's
apartment building. The deaths came as a shock to most of them and to
police.
"It's certainly out of the ordinary for this city to have a multiple
homicide," Quintana said.
Jackie Johnson, who moved into the gated apartment complex 3 years ago,
said it had shaken her sense of security.
"It scares me very much, very much," Johnson said.
The deaths brought to 16 the number of homicides this year in Lubbock.
Monday's deaths were the most in one instance in Lubbock since May 1998
when Michael Yowell shot his father, strangled his mother and set their
house on fire. His maternal grandmother, who was inside at the time, died
several days later.
Yowell was given the death penalty and remains on death row.
(source: Associated Press)
************************
Judge orders jurors to stay----State seeks a life sentence for murder
A deadlocked jury in a 12-year-old Nueces County capital murder case will
try again to reach a consensus today after sending a note out of the jury
room that said, "There appears to be nothing else to discuss."
After reading the note, District Judge Jack Hunter denied a defense motion
for a mistrial and ordered the jury to keep deliberating.
One of the 12 jurors has not been convinced to vote with others in the
sentencing hearing of Carlos Lopez, 49, court officials said.
The district attorney's office is seeking life imprisonment for 1 count of
capital murder.
Prosecutor Frank Errico - welcomed Hunter's decision, - but defense lawyer
Fred Jimenez said it was a potential setback.
"What we are going to end up doing is coercing a verdict," Jimenez said in
court.
Lopez was charged in the July 1, 1992, stabbing deaths of Mary Kocurek,
89, and Estefana Munoz, 80, who were patients at the former Riverside
Hospital in Calallen.
Lopez, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after he stabbed
Kocurek and Munoz, has claimed Munoz's granddaughter, whom he identified
as an ex-girlfriend, had used witchcraft on him.
Lopez has been in a state hospital until recently when doctors concluded
he was competent to stand trial after years of treatment.
The jury already has heard about 15 hours of testimony and has pondered a
punishment for about 12 hours.
Members of the victims' families were in court Monday and said they would
return today.
(source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
**********************
Judge reissues call to halt executions---Moratorium would include all
capital cases tied to HPD lab
A veteran Republican judge on the state's highest criminal court said
Monday that no one should be executed based on evidence from the Houston
Police Department crime lab until questions about its work are resolved.
Tom Price, a 30-year jurist, repeated his support for a limited moratorium
the same day that the Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency for
Dominique Green, a Houston man set to die today for the 1992 murder of
Andrew Lastrapes Jr.
"I think it would be prudent to delay further executions until we have had
a chance to have this evidence independently verified," said Price, a
former county criminal court-at-law and state district judge in Dallas who
has been on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for 8 years. "Once a death
sentence is carried out, you cannot reverse that."
Price offered the only dissenting vote last week when the Court of
Criminal Appeals denied Green's request for a delay of execution. In his
opinion, Price noted the concerns about the accuracy of HPD's ballistics
analyses as well as the recent discovery of 280 boxes of mislabeled
evidence from some 8,000 criminal cases.
The problems that have plagued HPD for nearly 2 years have prompted calls
similar to Price's from Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt and several
state lawmakers. His comments, however, are the first of this magnitude
from the state's judiciary.
Proponents of delaying executions called the judge's stance encouraging
and said it may carry weight.
"All big changes start with a small step, and the small step here is that
Judge Price, who is by no means soft on crime, is taking the position that
we should not be executing people when there are questions about the
evidence," said David Dow, director of the Texas Innocence Network, who
also represents Green. "I hope that insight blossoms in time to save
Dominique Green tomorrow, but even if it doesn't, over time, it will bring
widespread assent."
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said his office has carefully reviewed
the evidence in the Green case and the six others set for execution over
the next 5 months.
"I would agree with him if we weren't sure about the particular evidence
in this case," he said. "I have to live with myself, and if there was
something in those boxes that might exculpate someone who had been
executed, I don't know if I could."
Green's lawyers have argued he should not be executed until all of the
evidence from the boxes forgotten in the HPD property room has been
cataloged. Last month, police said they had inventoried about 25 % of the
material and that the process could continue through the spring.
They also note that an HPD ballistics test linked the gun found in the car
in which Green was apprehended to Lastrapes' robbery and murder. Green has
admitted to participating in the robbery but denies being the triggerman.
"Our position is not that we know there is exculpatory evidence in those
files,"said Dow. "It's that there might be something relevant there that
we don't know anything about."
Assistant District Attorney Roe Wilson, who is handling Green's case, said
all of the evidence has been accounted for.
"The criminal justice system cannot stop for a year," she said. "I sent an
investigator to visually look at" the murder weapon and bullet. "Anything
else is just pure speculation."
The Pardons and Paroles Board voted 6-0 Monday not to recommend a reprieve
for Green and 5-1 not to recommend a commutation. The board member who
voted for the commutation, Charles Aycock, did not return phone calls.
Dow filed additional appeals in state and federal court Monday seeking a
delay of execution because of concerns about crime lab evidence. They were
still pending Monday.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
