Nov. 13
TEXAS:
Court rejects Hankins appeal
Texas' highest criminal court has rejected Death Row inmate Terry Lee
Hankins' appeal in which he argued that his trial attorneys were
ineffective.
Hankins, 30, of Mansfield was convicted of capital murder in May 2002 and
sentenced to death for the 2001 slayings of his 11- and 12-year-old
stepchildren in their Mansfield home. He was also linked to the
bludgeoning death of his half sister and the shooting deaths of his wife
and father.
Earlier this year, the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Hankins' direct
appeal, which addressed the legal process of his trial.
The Criminal Appeals Court's ruling this week was on a writ of habeas
corpus, which addresses issues other than trial procedure. Hankins' writ
cited ineffective counsel.
Bill Harris, Hankin's court-appointed appellate attorney, said Hankins'
two trial attorneys could have better shown that Hankins was sexually
abused as a child.
"The Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant's counsel has a duty to
employ an expert psychologist to develop mitigating factors against the
death penalty," Harris said.
Hankins has 90 days to challenge Texas' ruling on his writ appeal, and he
has 1 year to begin appeals in federal court.
(source : Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
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Attorney for convicted murderer says he will continue to push for retrial
The attorney for a former Brenham resident who has been on death row for
10 years says a U.S. magistrate's denial of a new trial for his client
left him stunned.
Roy Greenwood, a Austin attorney who is representing Anthony Graves, said
the ruling from U.S. Magistrate John Froeschner was "very surprising."
Graves was 1 of 2 people convicted in the 1994 murders of 6 Somerville
residents, who were all shot, killed or bludgeoned to death in their home.
Their bodies were found after fire fighters responded to the home, which
authorities said was deliberately set on fire to cover up the murders.
Robert Earl Carter, father of 1 of the victims, was also convicted of
capital murder and was executed in 2000.
During Graves' trial, Carter implicated him in the murders but later
recanted that testimony, saying Graves was not involved.
Carter said he felt pressured by authorities to identify an accomplice
because they contended the murders could not have been committed by a
single person.
Greenwood requested a new hearing for Graves, saying that evidence had
been withheld from defense attorneys and that new facts in the case had
been uncovered.
"We've been discovering new evidence for 6 years," Greenwood said by
telephone Friday.
Greenwood said Graves' case was also bolstered by information discovered
by University of Houston Law School students as part of an "Innocence
Project," a legal research study into death penalty cases.
Froeschner, however, declined to include that evidence in his
consideration of Greenwood's request for a retrial.
Greenwood contends that prosecutors withheld evidence that defense
attorneys were legally required to get.
"A prosecutor cannot hide from the defense evidence that is exculpatory
for the defense," he said. "This evidence has finally been divulged 8, 10
years after the trial."
Other evidence, said Greenwood, has been found that would "impeach his
(Carter's) trial testimony and in fact exonerate" Graves.
Greenwood added that he is having difficulty even understanding
Froeschner's ruling.
"I'm still trying to figure out his opinion. I've been doing this 35
years, and this is one of the most difficult opinions to reply to that
I've ever seen," Greenwood said. "It makes findings that aren't based on
fact ... it switches back and forth."
Greenwood said he will nevertheless file objections to Froeschner's order
denying a retrial.
If those objections are rejected, Greenwood said he will then take an
appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and eventually
to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.
Killed were Bobbie Joyce Davis, 45; her 16-year-old daughter Nicole; and
four of Bobbie Davis' grandchildren, 9-year-old Denitra Davis, 4-year-old
Lea'Erin Davis, 6-year-old Britney Davis and 4-year-old Jason Davis.
Jason Davis was Carter's son.
Prosecutors contended that the family was murdered because Carter had been
ordered to pay child support for his son and because he was angry that
Bobbie Davis had received a promotion at Brenham State School that he
believed his mother should have received.
(source : Brenham Banner-Press)
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Lucio files bill to allow life without parole as option for sentencing
For the 4th time in as many legislative sessions, state Sen. Eddie Lucio,
D-Brownsville, filed a bill on Monday that would allow Texas juries to
hand down a sentence of life without parole.
The new option would give juries a guarantee that defendants of heinous
crimes would not be set free on parole if given a life sentence, Lucio
said. The death penalty still would be available when juries deemed it
appropriate, he said.
Currently, juries can recommend a life or death sentence for capital
crimes, but convicts given life sentences can be released on parole.
"This bill should in no way alter the death penalty, but it will ensure
safer streets and justice for the victims of crime and their families,"
Lucio, who said he supports the death penalty, said.
"I think youll find that most of us will continue to support the death
penalty because Texas has always taken a strong stance on it," Lucio said.
Texas has executed more people than any other state - 336 of them - since
the federal death penalty was reinstated and states gained the ability to
use it, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. California,
which has a larger population, has executed 10 people during that time.
Lucio said polls have shown that Texans support the idea of having life
without parole. It would also save the state money on expensive appeals
and give victims families closure more quickly than the lengthy appeals
process that is common with death penalty cases, he said.
"The legislation would provide every victims family closure in that they
wont have to relive the pain through the parole process," said Lucio.
"These families, who have already suffered enough, would have the
certainty that the murderer would never get out of prison."
State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, is a co-sponsor of the bill.
He also supports the death penalty, but wants juries to have another
option in cases they dont think a death sentence fits, he said.
"It is logical," he said. "You have someone who is mentally retarded (for
example), and shouldnt be put to death."
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it is unconstitutional to execute
mentally retarded defendants.
Hinojosa sponsored a bill for life without parole when he was in the House
of Representatives.
Lucio does not yet have a sponsor in the House, but hopes to find a
Republican to help carry it, he said.
Rep. Aaron Pea, D-Edinburg, said he would support such a bill in the
House.
Lucio offered the measure in 1999, but the bill died in the Senate; in
2001, it passed the Senate but died in the House by 8 votes; in 2003, it
died in the Senate.
Lucio was the only member of the 9-person Rio Grande Valley delegation to
file legislation on Monday, the 1st day for bills for the 2005 session.
State Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, the senior member of the Valley
House delegation, said that in his 10 years as a committee chairman, he
never considered a bills number when determining whether to debate it.
"Theres nothing wrong with pre-filing bills on the first possible day, but
it certainly is not a silver bullet for getting a bill passed," Oliveira
said.
(source: Harlingen Valley Morning Star)
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Poll: Texans still favor death penalty
7 of 10 Texans believe the state has executed innocent people, but 75 %
also support continuing the death penalty, according to the Scripps Howard
Texas Poll.
The percentage of Texans who say the state has executed innocent inmates
has increased 13 points since spring 2000.
But Dianne Clements, president of the victims advocacy group Justice for
All, said she doubts innocent people have been executed. Those who believe
innocent people have died is the result of a propaganda campaign by
anti-death penalty groups, she said.
"It is all a theoretical idea," she said. "There is no proof."
The state perennially leads the nation in the number of executions
annually and is often called the execution capital of the world. Texas has
executed 22 prisoners so far this year.
Recent reports of crime lab snafus in Houston and the exoneration in
October of former death row inmate Ernest Ray Willis may have contributed
to the rising number of people who think the state executed innocent
people, anti-death penalty activists say.
But even though support for the death penalty is strong, Texans are
divided over a moratorium on executions so officials can study the issue.
52 % of Texans oppose a moratorium and 44 % support the idea.
A moratorium would allow for a 2-year study on Texas executions, said
Jeanette Popp, chairwoman of the Texas Moratorium Network, an Austin-based
group that has been pushing for a moratorium on executions since 2000.
Popp is the mother of Nancy De Priest, who was murdered in Austin in 1988.
The people convicted were ultimately exonerated based on DNA evidence. A
fervent death penalty opponent, Popp said there is no reasonable excuse to
oppose a moratorium.
"Are the people of Texas so bloodthirsty that they cannot go without an
execution for 2 years?" she asked. "The only reason that I could possibly
think of is that they are afraid of what they might find out."
Texas law allows for the execution of people who commit capital murder at
the age of 17. So far the youngest people executed in Texas were 24 years
old: Jay Pinkerton of Nueces County, executed in 1986, and Jesse De La
Rosa of Bexar County, executed in 1985.
51 % of Texans favor the law allowing for the execution of someone who
committed capital murder at the age of 17, a 9-% point drop from February
2003.
Clements, whose group works with murder victims families, said not being
able to sentence 17-year-olds to death would be like exempting an entire
class of people.
"17-year-olds that commit horrible crimes are as culpable as
27-year-olds," she said. "They should be judged as individuals."
40 % oppose the law. Popp is one of them. She said the trend toward
opposing condemning 17-year-olds is a sign of progress.
"I dont think that a 17-year-old - I dont even think that 18-year-olds -
have the same mental capacity to know the consequences of their actions
like adults," Popp said. "I believe that if you incarcerate a child on
death row at 17-year-old, youve taken a child who has great potential to
be a decent human being or a decent adult. Youve taken away any chance
theyve had to mature into that person."
A state senator has been trying since 1999 to broaden the options for
juries. Now, in capital cases, juries can pick death or life, but life
sentences come with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
State Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, has filed a bill that would provide
juries an option to sentence a guilty defendant to life without the
possibility of parole. State lawmakers will consider the bill when they
meet for their regular session in January.
The idea behind the proposed legislation is to give jurors a chance to put
someone away forever without having to call for a death sentence.
"What Im looking for is not fewer death sentences. What Im looking for is
for Texas juries to have the tools to pass just punishments," Lucio said.
"That, to me, is more important."
Many Texans agree with Lucio. 78 % favor changing the law to allow life in
prison without parole, a 6-% point increase from February 2003.
Additionally, 76 percent of death penalty supporters still favor capital
punishment if they knew that a capital murderer would be given a true life
sentence without parole. 18 % oppose life without parole.
The Texas Poll was conducted Oct. 11-28 by the Scripps Research Center in
Abilene. The Poll surveyed 1,000 adult Texans by telephone in a random
sample of active telephone exchanges statewide. The margin of error for
the whole sample is plus or minus 3 %.
(source: Scripps News Service)
*******************
Judge: Inmate on death row allowed to seek execution date
Robert Anderson might just get his wish.
U.S. Magistrate Clinton Averitte ruled Friday that Anderson, 38, is
mentally competent to waive his federal appeals and can seek an execution
date through state courts for the 1992 brutal slaying of a 5-year-old
girl.
In his decision, Averitte said Anderson's decision to end his appeals was
made freely and voluntarily and that the inmate told him his decision was
reached after a religious experience. The judge also noted a psychiatrist
evaluated Anderson and did not consider his claims to be delusional or
psychotic.
Anderson told Averitte during a court hearing Oct. 27 that he wished to
abandon his appeals and be executed for the slaying of Audra Reeves. A
jury convicted Anderson of capital murder in the child's death in 1993,
and he was sentenced to die by lethal injection.
On June 9, 1992, a neighbor found Reeves' body packed inside a Styrofoam
cooler in a garbage container in the 400 block of South Tennessee Street.
According to court records and Anderson's confession, he abducted the
young girl as she walked home from a nearby park. He forced the girl into
his home, where she was sexually assaulted, beaten, and stabbed repeatedly
with a paring knife and a barbecue fork before Anderson drowned her in a
bathtub.
During the Oct. 27 hearing, Averitte grilled Anderson about his decision
to waive any more appeals.
Anderson told Averitte he recently drew a pentagram on the floor of his
cell and sat on it. St. Christopher and Satan argued for dominion over his
soul. Satan lost, Anderson told the judge. Anderson said he rededicated
himself to a Christian way of life and believes God has forgiven him for
the slaying.
"Sir this may sound callous ... I don't want to hurt anybody any longer,
and I want to be executed," he said. "God has granted me a peace that I
didn't have before."
Anderson told Averitte the victim often appeared to him in nightmares.
Earlier, Averitte recommended that Anderson's appeal be denied and cited
the "particularly egregious" nature of the child's death.
"His persistence in carrying out this assault and murder over a period of
at least 45 minutes, leaving no major part of her body that did not
sustain wounds, and undaunted by a plea for mercy, would support a finding
of sufficient aggravation, in and of itself, to support imposition of the
death penalty," Averitte wrote.
(source: Amarillo Globe-News)
*********************
Jury finds Outback killer guilty----Walter could face death sentence
After hashing out arguments for more than 4 hours, Collin County jurors
found Stephon Lavell Walter guilty Friday of slaying 3 of his former
Outback Steakhouse bosses.
Fifth District Judge Ralph Burgess of Texarkana, Texas, is calling the
jury back on Monday to begin the sentencing phase. Prosecutors are pushing
for the death penalty.
The capital murder conviction for the 25-year-old Texarkana, Texas, man
can be immediately appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the
highest level of appeals for criminal cases in Texas.
Jurors were not allowed to consider lesser offenses, but could only decide
if the crime was capital murder or not.
The guilty verdict came after jurors heard 4 days worth of evidence
including testimony that Walter was the triggerman in the shooting deaths
of Texarkana Outback Steakhouse managers Matthew Hines, Rebecca "Becky"
Shifflett and Chrystal "Chrissy" Willis.
Walter's co-defendant, Richard Markeil "Lucky" Henson, will be tried at a
later date. Prosecutors successfully used statements that he gave his
brother, Roderick Henson, as part of their case to lay out what happened
in the restaurant after closing hours on the eve of Labor Day 2003.
"Stephon walked into the Outback restaurant on Aug. 31 and killed 3 people
that he himself testified were his friends," Assistant Bowie County
District Attorney Adam Fellows said in closing arguments.
Hines was the proprietor/part owner of the restaurant and Shifflett was
the general manager while Willis was the assistant manager. Walter worked
at the restaurant from September 2001 to Aug. 5, 2003. All 3 managers had
given Walter written disciplines during that time period.
"The person that pulled the trigger that shot Matt Hines in the back and
side of the head and shot Chrystal in the forehead and shot Rebecca
Shifflett who was on the floor cowering, was intentional," Fellows argued.
He said Walter knew the restaurant's west "take-away" door would be opened
and that Hines would be working on paperwork at the end-of-the-month
inventory.
Walter's court appointed lawyer, Jeff Harrelson, said anyone could have
gotten in.
"Folks, who worked at the Outback? Markeil used to work at the Outback,"
Harrelson argued.
Markeil Henson told police he was in the restaurant's hallway while Walter
robbed the restaurant and killed the management team.
Fellows argued, "Henson tells his brother, implicating himself with
capital murder at the Outback."
Fellows reminded jurors that the number of bullets that were fired inside
the restaurant were never publicly disclosed, which lent credibility to
Roderick Henson's testimony that his brother, Markeil Henson, told him
that he heard Walter fire a gun 6 times.
Harrelson argued that Markeil Henson knew this because he was inside the
office. He discounted the Henson account because Markeil Henson told his
brother that Walter went into the restaurant's office twice. He recalled
that the door automatically locks and the assailant would not have an
opportunity to get in a 2nd time.
But Friday's verbal sparring continued with Fellows thundering at jurors,
"This man that sits in the courtroom among us is a murderer."
Fellows recalled Walter's own testimony: "These people he says were his
friends knew him."
He asked jurors what person holds their hands up to stop a bullet unless
they know the assailant. Willis was shot in the forehead and her autopsy
revealed that the graze on one of her fingers indicates that she probably
held her hand out when facing her killer.
Harrelson disagreed.
"You're going to put your hands up when anybody shoots at you," Harrelson
said, indicating it is an impulsive defense tactic.
Bowie County Assistant District Attorney Mike Shepherd called Walter a
coward for shooting Hines in the back of the head.
"And poor Rebecca had to watch two co-workers and friends. She had to
watch them die," Shepherd argued. "She was trapped and couldn't go
anywhere and just the thought that a human being cowering on the floor is
a threat to anyone disgusts me. That woman was no threat to him at all."
Shifflett, according to forensic pathologists, was shot at close
range-less than 2 feet.
"(Shifflett was) a woman that he knew was 6 months pregnant, but he didn't
care," Shepherd said.
Shepherd argued that Hines, Shifflett and Willis were essentially dead the
moment Walter entered the restaurant.
"He showed up with the intent to kill," Shepherd said.
Harrelson argued it was not a revenge killing for being fired and that
Walter was not responsible for the killings.
"Markeil Henson went to the Outback and with the gun shot those people,"
said Harrelson. "Markeil Henson did that."
Harrelson reminded jurors that Roderick Henson burned Markeil Henson's
clothes.
"Why else would he burn his clothes," Harrelson asked. "Roderick drank the
beer with the dirty money (stolen from the Outback) and 2 days later,
turned his brother in for $100,000 (reward money)."
Harrelson also attacked the crime scene and argued there was no forensic
evidence to tie Walter to the murders.
"This blood bath of a scene, there's nothing on Stephon," Harrelson
argued.
There was no evidence in his vehicle, either.
"Markeil shot those people. Stephon told you that. You saw him tell you
that," Harrelson said.
He also reminded them that Outback employees did not list Walter as a
potential suspect after police began their investigation into the
killings.
Fellows recalled the testimony that Walter gave in his own defense on
Thursday.
"I thought his testimony was incredible. But ladies and gentlemen you can
decide if it's credible," he said.
Fellows pointed out that if Walter were telling the truth, at least seven
people, including 3 of his own family members, were lying when they took
the witness stand.
Walter's mother, Delinda Roever, as well as his sister, Torian "Taz" Hill,
and her common-law husband, Billy Ray "Belile" Johnson, testified for
prosecutors.
Shepherd reminded jurors of taped phone conversations between them and
Walter while he was in the Bi-State Justice Building Jail.
During at least one of those conversations, Walter made reference to a
framed picture at his apartment.
According to earlier testimony, Texas Ranger Jay Womack suspected the
murder weapon was hidden inside the braces of the picture frame. In trial
testimony this week, Walter's mother testified that a gun was found behind
the frame and that she and Johnson destroyed it, fearing it was the murder
weapon.
"Here is a man sitting in jail, talking to his family and during the
course of one of these conversations he asks, 'Let me ask you something,
did you guys get the picture,'" Shepherd said in his arguments. "Why else
would this man be concerned about the picture? Because he hid the gun in
it."
Part of the tape has Johnson assuring Walter that they took care of
everything.
"This man (Walter) laughs because he's at ease. His own words convict him.
In another phone conversation with his family that he confides in, Billy
Ray is trying to comfort him," Shepherd said. "Walter is reportedly on the
tape saying 'I should have listened to you.'"
Harrelson argued that Walter was not regretful of the Outback attack, but
instead, for associating with Markeil Henson.
Johnson did supply a gun-a .380 caliber pistol-that was suspected of being
the one that fired the fatal bullets in the management trio.
Shepherd worked to deflect Harrelson's charges against Johnson.
"Billy Ray is a convicted felon. He tried to talk his little brother out
of it," Shepherd argued.
Harrelson argued that Johnson wanted a portion of the almost $1,000 that
was stolen from the restaurant that night. He said that there was no video
that shows that Walter was ever inside the Outback with a gun. Also, he
argued that with Johnson's criminal record, he had an incentive to testify
against Walter in order to stay out of jail.
Harrelson admitted the crime scene and autopsy photos were graphic and
"horrible." They were, he believes, a tool to make jurors believe that
someone should be held responsible for the killings.
Harrelson told jurors that it was OK to feel sympathetic to the victims,
but that they still had to follow the jury instructions.
(source: Texarakana Gazette)
