Nov. 3
TEXAS:
Death row inmate found hanged in his cell
A condemned inmate from far northeast Texas was found hanging by a sheet
in his death row cell in an apparent suicide, state prison officials said
today.
Deon Tumblin, 27, was found Tuesday evening at the Polunsky Unit of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice outside Livingston, about 75 miles
northeast of Houston.
He had been condemned for strangling a Texarkana woman, Evelyn Reed, 75,
at her home in January 2000, then taking her car.
Efforts to resuscitate Tumblin at the scene failed and he was taken to the
prison infirmary where he was pronounced dead.
The prison system's inspector general's office was investigating the
death.
Tumblin, who arrived on death row in February 2001, did not have an
execution date.
Police on the Arkansas side of Texarkana arrested Tumblin and a woman
companion in the victim's car, which had been reported stolen.
Police said they also found Tumblin had some items that belonged to Reed,
a widow who had been caring for her 46-year-old invalid daughter who lived
with her.
The daughter, unable to speak, was in a bedroom of the home when her
mother was killed, according to testimony at Tumblin's trial.
Prosecutors said Tumblin hit Reid with a wrench, choked her, broke a belt
trying to strangle her and then slammed his knee into her neck.
Prosecutors also said he had a history of impulsive violence, drug use and
criminal behavior.
He earlier received a 4-year term in Arkansas for forgery and firearms
possession. He spent 5 months in prison and was paroled in May 1997.
Defense attorneys tried to portray Tumblin as the product of an abusive
family who was teased as a child because of a problem with crossed eyes.
But physical evidence, Tumblin's statements to police and the testimony of
his accomplice, Marsha Burnett, prompted a Bowie County jury to convict
him and sentence him to death.
Burnett, now 24, received a life prison term in exchange for her testimony
against him. Prosecutors had considered seeking the death penalty against
her until she agreed to the plea deal.
She's imprisoned at the Mountain View Unit near Gatesville and isn't
eligible for parole until 2040.
Burnett was identified as the daughter of a home health care nurse Reed
had hired to help with the care for her own daughter. Burnett, who was the
star witness at Tumblin's trial, had been to the victim's home numerous
times, testimony showed.
(source: Associated Press)
*********************
College student's killer set to die Thursday
Condemned inmate Robert Brice Morrow has a number of stories about what
led him to death row and the carnage he may have left behind.
What's certain amid his claims is there's a grieving family who lost a
daughter more than eight years ago -- a horrendous death for which Morrow
was convicted -- and they hope to see Texas prison officials execute him
Thursday evening.
Morrow, 47, faced lethal injection for the abduction, fatal beating and
slashing of Lisa Allison.
Allison, 21, was home on spring break from the University of Nevada at Las
Vegas in April 1996 when she took her father's car to a car wash not far
from their home in Liberty, about 45 miles east of Houston.
She never returned home.
The car was found abandoned. Her battered body, bearing 42 separate
injuries, was discovered the next day floating in the Trinity River, which
runs through Liberty.
An eyewitness later would tell authorities he saw a man fitting Morrow's
description laying on top of Allison in the passenger side of the car at
the car wash. She didn't appear to be struggling and he dismissed the
activity as nothing more than boyfriend and girlfriend, then saw them
drive away in the direction of the river.
"I want to see this man pay for what he's done," Michael Allison, the
victim's father, who planned to attend the execution, said this week. "I
want to know he's standing in front of the Lord God and have to account
for what he's done. He stole a beautiful life."
Morrow, an oilfield roughneck who had previous convictions for burglary,
weapons possession and larceny in South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas, was
arrested nearly four months later walking near a crack house in Houston. A
computer check revealed he was wanted for the Liberty County slaying.
His trial took 10 weeks. A jury took 13 minutes to decide he should be put
to death.
"I'm ready to go," he said recently from death row. "It's a blessing. Nov.
4 can't come soon enough."
The U.S. Supreme Court 2 weeks ago refused to review his case and his
attorney, Kevin Dunn, said Wednesday he did not expect to file any
last-day appeals.
"It's dead, completely over. That's it," Morrow said.
At his trial and in interviews with reporters, the 10th-grade dropout gave
different versions of his meeting with Allison: that they'd known each
other for several years and shared drugs; that she stabbed him with a
screwdriver, accounting for blood seen on him by others the night she
disappeared; that another man was responsible for her slaying.
In the past week he told the Houston Chronicle he was responsible for the
Allison slaying, but that she went willingly with him to smoke crack
cocaine.
Then he told The Associated Press he was responsible for burying the
bodies of 2 other women, teenage runaways from Florida, in Liberty County
"in a good place, not just thrown in ditches." He said he and Allison "got
into a big old war" as he was getting high and "I just slapped her 2 or 3
times."
Liberty County District Attorney Mike Little prosecuted Morrow and
described him as "somewhat typical of violent sociopaths who simply try to
thread their story to meet a set of fictional circumstances that might get
a jury to turn them loose."
"Some of the things he mentioned we've checked out as much as we can and
we haven't found any validity," Little said.
Blood samples taken from the car matched his blood and the victim's.
Witnesses testified he previously had talked of how easy it would be to
abduct a woman from the car wash, rob her and use the money to buy drugs,
and how he had bloody clothing and scratches on his arms when they saw him
the night of Allison's disappearance.
Morrow would be the 20th Texas inmate put to death this year and the 2nd
this week. Lorenzo Morris, 52, from Houston, was executed Tuesday evening
for beating a 70-year-old Houston man who died nine months after the
attack. Another 4 inmates are set to die over the next 2 weeks.
(source: Associated Press)
*****************************
Jurors seated in capital murder trial of Outback suspect Walter
In McKinney, 8 men and 4 women were seated as jurors to hear Bowie
County's case against accused Outback killer Stephon Lavelle Walter.
Walter, 25, of Texarkana, Texas, is to go on trial next week for capital
murder in Collin County. If he is convicted, prosecutors will seek the
death penalty as his punishment.
Jury selection began on Oct. 25 and the last of the two female alternate
jurors was picked by 4:15 p.m. Monday, according to the Bowie County
Clerk's office.
Authorities say that Walter and his accomplice, Richard Markeil "Lucky"
Henson, also of Texarkana, Texas, killed three employees of the local
Outback Steakhouse on Sept. 1, 2003. Police found the bodies of proprietor
Matt Hines and staff members Rebecca Shifflett and Chrystal Willis in the
restaurant's back office.
Because of intense media coverage, 5th District Judge Ralph Burgess moved
the trial from Bowie County to Collin County to ensure that Walter had a
better chance of getting a fair trial. Burgess ordered a gag order on the
case. Essentially, the jurors and the courthouse are being borrowed for
the case, although Bowie County will be paying the jurors.
Although the case has been moved to Collin County, it is still being heard
by Burgess, of Texarkana.
Other Texarkana trial participants include assistant Bowie County district
attorneys Mike Shepherd and Adam Fellows, who are prosecuting the case,
and local attorneys Jeff Harrelson and Ray Keith, who are defending
Walter.
Bowie County District Clerk Billy Fox and her staff have been in McKinney
helping with jury selection. Either Fox or her clerks will be in Collin
County for the duration of the trial.
(source: Texarkana Gazette)
*********************
Lethal injection ends Dominique Green's life -- Victim's family pleads for
clemency but officials turn deaf ears
Dominique Green, the death row inmate who wrote the essay "More than just
a rosary" in the Oct. 15 issue of NCR, was executed by lethal injection in
Huntsville, Texas, Oct. 26.
Green and his supporters experienced an emotional roller coaster as he was
granted a reprieve hours before the scheduled execution and then the
reprieve was overturned. The execution went forward despite an 11th-hour
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Green is the 18th Texas inmate put to death this year and the 5th in
October. Another six are to die before the end of the year.
Green had requested that his body be cremated and the ashes taken to Santa
Maria Church in Trastevere, Rome, Italy. Trastevere is home to the
Community of SantEgidio, an Italian lay church movement that befriended
Green more than a decade ago. Two members of the SantEgidio community were
among the five witnesses to Greens execution.
In the weeks before the execution, the family of the man Green was
convicted of murdering joined in the struggle to have Greens sentence
commuted.
The murder victims wife, Bernatte Luckett Lastrapes, wrote to Texas Gov.
Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles: "All of us have
forgiven Dominique for what happened and want to give him another chance
at life. Everyone deserves another chance."
During an Oct. 19 news conference, called by Greens legal team and
supporters, the victims son, Andre Lastrapes, asked that Green be spared
the death penalty. "Killing him aint going to bring my daddy back," the
Houston Chronicle quoted him as saying.
Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Huston joined the news conference
in support of Green.
Green was 18 when he was arrested for his crime and 30 when he was
executed. Green never denied that he had robbed Andrew Lastrapes Jr.
outside a Houston convenience store, but he maintained until he died that
he did not shoot him. 2 of 3 accomplices were convicted of aggravated
robbery and received prison terms. The third was not tried for the crime.
Green spent the morning of Oct. 26 with the people who had supported him
during his 12 years on death row and who would witness his death that
evening: David Atwood, the Huston coordinator for Pax Christi; Barbara
Bacci from Rome, a member of the SantEgidio community; Lorna Kelly of the
New York chapter of SantEgidio; Sheila Murphy, a former Illinois state
judge and Greens lawyer; and Andy Lofthouse, part of Greens defense team.
Greens mother and a girlfriend also visited him that morning.
The day before, Green had met with Andre Lastrapes for about an hour and a
half, Atwood told NCR. It was their first face-to-face meeting. "They got
a good chance to talk," Atwood said, adding that he is convinced the 2
found reconciliation. "Dominique expressed sorrow for what happened and
expressed gratitude to Andre that he had spoken out against the execution.
So it was pretty good and pretty amazing."
Andre Lastrapes returned to see Green again Oct. 26 and brought his
brother Andrew with him. The 3 young men "really hit if off," Murphy and
Kelly told NCR. Kelly said seeing the 3 young men together was "powerful."
"It was so remarkable to see these 3 African-American guys together. They
were very similar, all about the same age," Kelly told NCR. Kelly has
corresponded regularly with Green for the last 3 years and Green had asked
her to be his spiritual adviser.
Green gave the Lastrapes brothers the rosary he wrote about in NCR and a
copy of Bishop Desmond Tutus book No Future Without Forgiveness, a memoir
of Tutus time as president of South Africas Truth and Reconciliation
Commission. Tutu had visited Green on death row earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Greens defense team was fighting to halt the execution on
grounds that ballistics evidence used to convict him may have been
inaccurate because it was done by a scandal-ridden Houston Police
Department crime lab.
They said the execution should be put off until thousands of recently
found case files at the lab could be reviewed. In August, police
discovered that the crime lab had mishandled some 280 boxes of evidence
involving some 8,000 cases covering more than 2 decades.
The Associated Press has reported that Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt
has called for a moratorium on executions in cases where the lab was
involved, but the executions have not stopped.
Shortly after noon Oct. 26, guards took Green to prepare him for transport
to Huntsville, Texas, about an hours drive away, where the execution
chamber is located.
About the same time, Greens defense team learned that U.S. District Judge
Nancy Atlas in Houston had accepted his lawyers arguments and ordered a
stay of Greens execution. Green was in Huntsville in the waiting room next
to the execution chamber when he learned of his stay. About 80 of his
supporters -- including the Lastrapes brothers -- were across the road
from the prison. His only human contact was with the prison chaplain he
had met that afternoon and his lawyer, Murphy.
Legal wrangling continued. The Texas state attorney generals office
objected to the reprieve, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New
Orleans overturned it about 5:30 p.m. Greens lawyers went to the U.S.
Supreme Court, but it refused to hear the case.
About 7:30 p.m. Green received word that his execution would proceed.
Greens 5 witnesses were led into the room from which they would watch
Green die. Separated by glass, Green could see them but not hear them.
They could see Green strapped to a hospital-like gurney by thick, leather
belts and covered with white sheets, his head propped on a pillow. His
arms were extended, "crucifixion-like" according to Atwood, and wrapped in
Ace bandages to cover the tubes in his veins.
A microphone was lowered to Greens mouth and from the gurney he spoke for
about 3 minutes. "Tell Andre and them that I didnt get a chance to reach
my full potential, but you can help them reach theirs," he said, according
to a transcript made by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
"There was a lot of people that got me to this point, and I cant thank
them all, but thank you for your love and support; they have allowed me to
do a lot more than I could have on my own," he said.
"But I have overcome a lot," he said. "I am not angry, but I am
disappointed that I was denied justice. But I am happy I was afforded you
all as family and friends." Green repeated several times, "I love you" to
his witnesses, who mouthed the words back to him.
The lethal dose was administered at 7:50 p.m. Kelly described the scene to
NCR: "I thought he was trying to catch his breath, waiting to say
something else to us, his eyes were closing, and suddenly it dawned on me,
he is dying. They are doing it. They are killing him."
Green gasped, and a doctor entered the room to declare him dead at 7:59
p.m.
"He was beautiful," Atwood of Pax Christi told NCR Oct. 28. "Even on the
execution gurney he expressed gratitude. He even chuckled a few times as
he saw his friends standing there.
"He was so thankful for the people in his life who had helped him grow as
an individual."
(source : National Catholic Reporter, Nov. 5 (Editors Note: Green asked
his lawyer to have the money he earned for publication of his essay in NCR
to be sent to the Lastrape's family)
*****************************************
Maggard plea bargains: gets two life sentences
A man scheduled to go on trial Nov. 8 for killing his wife's grandmother
reached a plea bargain with the state to avoid a trial and the death
penalty. In return he received 2 life sentences.
Randell Lee Maggard was charged and indicted for killing Grace Trammell,
70, in her home near Callisburg on Sept. 22, 2003. Previously Maggard had
pled not guilty to the charge, but reversed his plea Wednesday in exchange
for two life sentences. District Attorney Janelle Haverkamp had filed
notice she intended to seek the death penalty in the case.
Difficulty in seating a jury led to the decision for the plea bargain.
"It was very hard to come to that decision," Haverkamp said. "The facts
and the circumstances of the case certainly merit the death penalty."
However, Haverkamp said attorneys were unable to seat a jury for the
trial.
"I talked with the family. He will never get out. He waived all rights to
an appeal," she said. "I think it is a good outcome, it's good for the
family and good for Cooke County."
In return for his guilty plea, Maggard, 33, received a life sentence for
aggravated robbery and a life sentence for murder. The sentences will run
consecutively. As part of the plea bargain, he waived all rights to an
appeal.
Haverkamp said if Maggard had pled guilty to the capital murder charge he
would have to serve 40 years before becoming eligible for parole.
"He must serve 20 more years than if he pled to straight capital murder,"
she said. "The family is satisfied with that."
Haverkamp said Maggard must serve at least 60 years -- 30 years for each
sentence -- before becoming eligible for parole.
"I think this is a good result," Haverkamp said. "He will never get out of
the penitentiary."
Maggard was arrested in Dallas for Trammell's murder on the same day her
body was discovered.
The night of her death the home health nurse had taken a meal to a family,
something she was known to do, Haverkamp said. Through talking to clients
of Trammell's, Haverkamp said she found Trammell would often continue to
visit and help families and patients, even after the family could no
longer pay.
"She took it upon herself to go visit, to bring food, to take someone a
milkshake," Haverkamp said.
After she returned from delivering the meal, Maggard arrived at her house
to get money and was carrying a rusty homemade wrench.
"If he would have asked she probably would have loaned him the money,"
Haverkamp said.
Instead Maggard beat Trammell to death with the wrench, stole money and
her 1999 red Chevrolet Blazer. He used the money to buy crack cocaine in
Gainesville before going to Dallas, where he bought more crack cocaine and
hooked up with prostitutes, Haverkamp said.
After family members discovered Trammell's body the next day, they
broadcast her vehicle's information to Cooke County residents and to
surrounding law enforcement agencies.
A Dallas officer spotted a woman he knew to work as a prostitute driving
the Blazer and decided to run a check on the Blazer. There he found it was
wanted in connection with Trammell's murder.
When he stopped the Blazer, he found Maggard, who still had Trammell's
blood on his clothes.
"Through DNA testing we determined it was her blood on his clothing and on
the wrench," Haverkamp said. "Ultimately he gave a confession that he
killed her.
"What crack cocaine has done to both of these families," Haverkamp said.
"We need to get the message out to people what it can do."
Maggard has been awaiting trial in jail on a $1 million bond. Now he
remains in jail awaiting transfer to the state prison system.
Previously Maggard had burglarized Trammell's home stealing money and a
weapon, but she decided not to press charges since he was married to her
granddaughter, Haverkamp said.
For the past month, Haverkamp and Maggard's defense attorneys Bill Ray and
Stanley Goodwin have met individually with prospective jurors in an
attempt to whittle down what started as a pool of 400 to 12 plus two
alternates. At the beginning of the October, 250 potential jurors returned
a 30-page questionnaire when they reported for duty. That first day, the
jury pool was further narrowed to 148, which the attorneys then scheduled
to meet with individually.
>From there, many of the jurors were disqualified because they were on
polarizing ends of the death penalty question, Haverkamp said.
"Some could never give the death penalty for religious or moral reasons,"
Haverkamp said. "Some would always give the death penalty. Very few people
were middle of the road."
Attorneys had seated 10 jurors for the case, but needed to find four more
-- two as alternates.
Maggard's case represented the 1st time a Cooke County district attorney
filed to seek the death penalty since 1981. In the previous case, State
vs. Drew Wood, the jury found Wood guilty, but did not return the death
penalty sentence.
(source : Gainesville Daily Register)
*********************
Amnesty International USA Holds Annual Conference in Houston, Texas;
Activists Will Focus Attention on HPD Crime Lab, the Death Penalty, and
Other Human Rights Issues in the Southern Region
Contact: Suha Dubbouseh of Amnesty International USA, 404-876-5661
Amnesty International USA's (AIUSA) Southern Regional Office will be
holding its Annual Southern Regional Conference in Houston, Texas from
Friday, Nov. 5-7. Activists from 11 Southern states will meet in Houston
to develop new skills, receive updates on Amnesty International's global
campaigns, and to plan ways to elevate a universal respect for human
rights issues in their communities. Issues that will be addressed at the
conference include examining Amnesty International's 6 year global
campaign to stop violence against women, the ongoing work to abolish the
death penalty, racial profiling, the treatment of political refugees, and
abuses related to the "War on Terror."
Conference highlights include a demonstration that will focus attention on
the beleaguered Houston Police Department's crime lab. AIUSA and local
community groups will call on Texas Gov. Rick Perry to put in place a
moratorium on executions until 280 boxes of evidence, dating back 25
years, can be catalogued by police. Most of the material in the boxes
pertains to murder cases and could potentially provide exculpatory
evidence for one of the 5 death row inmates convicted in Harris County and
scheduled to die before the end of the year.
Other highlights of the conference will include: An artwork display by
Shelley Shanks (founder of Artists Breaking the Cycle) and by Eric Avery
(Pychologist at UTMB, printmaker, papermaker), as well as the photo
exhibit "Diary of an Execution," a panel entitled "The Faces of
Resistance: Stopping Violence Against Women," and a lecture by Dr. William
F. Schulz, executive director of AIUSA.
WHO: AIUSA Activists; Human Rights Artists; Speakers Including Dr. William
F. Schulz, executive director, AIUSA
WHAT: AIUSA's Annual Southern Regional Conference
WHERE: Park Plaza Hotel, Reliant Center, 8686 Kirby Drive, Houston, Texas
77054
WHEN: November 5-7, 2004
For more information (including directions and lodging for the event)
please visit:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/events/southern/regionalconference.html
(source: U.S. Newswire)
