Jan. 29
TEXAS----new execution date
Sterling set to die: Execution date has been set for May 25
In a surprise move Friday, convicted murderer Gary Lynn Sterling was
returned to Navarro County for a hearing that set his execution date.
Officials said there were "security concerns" behind bringing Sterling
back Friday -- instead of Monday as was originally scheduled -- but did
not elaborate on those concerns.
District Judge John Jackson of the 13th Judicial District Court of Navarro
County signed the necessary paperwork, including the death warrant,
setting a May 25 date "on or after 6 p.m." for Sterling to be executed.
Sterling himself was strangely chipper, smiling and posing for the Daily
Sun camera as he was led into the courthouse about 11:15 a.m. Friday. He
said the knowledge of an execution date doesn't bother him.
"I just take it day by day, live my life one day at a time," he said with
a big smile moments after Jackson gave him the execution date. "That's all
you can do."
He is convicted of the May 1988 murder of a 72-year-old Navarro County
man, John W. Carty.
Sterling was first apprehended in connection with the murders of two
elderly brothers in Hill County on May 17, 1988 -- three days after the
Carty murder -- Leroy and William M. Porter, 70 and 72 years old,
respectively.
Sterling received 2 life sentences for those murders as part of a plea
bargain agreement with the Hill County prosecutor.
He admitted to the slaying of Carty after he was arrested for the Porter
murders, directing law enforcement officers of Hill and Navarro counties
to the body in an area near the Brushie Prairie community. Also found with
Carty were the remains of 52-year-old Deloris June Smith.
It was later determined that Carty had been beaten to death with an
automotive bumper jack. Sterling was never tried in connection with the
Smith murder.
He was 20 years old at the time of the multiple murders. Sterling is now
37. He will reach 15 years spent on death row at the end of February.
Sterling has had at least 2 previous execution dates overturned.
Jerry Strickland of the Capital Litigation Division of the Texas Office of
the Attorney General said the U.S. Fifth Circuit of Appeals denied
Sterling's latest petition for a new hearing on both guilt/innocence and
on the death sentence in a Dec. 8 decision.
Sterling still has an appeal left with the U.S. Supreme Court. Strickland
told the Daily Sun earlier this month that Sterling's defense attorneys
have until March 8 to file that petition.
Should that appeal to the Supreme Court fail, Sterling would have only a
hearing before the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole and the governor of
Texas as last resorts in the days immediately preceding the May 25
execution date this year.
While Sterling seemed unnaturally cheerful given the nature of Friday's
proceedings, getting the chance to be away from the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice's death row wasn't the reason, he said.
"They could have mailed (the death warrant) to me in there," Sterling
said. "I didn't need to come ... being in (prison) isn't anything to me, I
grew up in there."
(source: Corsicana Daily Sun)
***************
Texas AG declares death row art sales legal
James Vernon Allridge IV may have been guilty of capital murder, but there
was nothing illegal about the drawings of flowers, animals and landscapes
that he sold from death row, the Texas attorney general has ruled.
Victims' rights advocates had argued that Allridge's Internet art sales to
patrons such as actress Susan Sarandon and rocker Sting violated a state
law against profiting from crimes.
"Our bottom line is that there shouldn't be any market for this so-called
art from death row. Period," said Dianne Clements, who heads the crime
victims' organization Justice For All. "No one's going to buy those
inmates' paintings because they were done by great artists. They buy them
because some killer drew them, and that's disgusting."
But Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled last week that inmates are
free to sell their artwork. Abbott did say it would be up to the courts to
determine whether the value of art was unduly inflated because it was
drawn by a person condemned to death.
Allridge was executed last year for the 1985 killing of 21-year-old
convenience store clerk Brian Clendennen during a robbery.
When Allridge's attorneys petitioned the Texas Board of Pardons and
Paroles to recommend a sentence commutation, they attached samples of
Allridge's drawings, including floral arrangements, a surreal seascape and
a regal lion. Allridge sold his art for as much as $465 on the Internet.
In the days leading up to Allridge's execution, his attorney, Jim Marcus,
scoffed at the notion that his client was peddling murderabilia. The law
was intended to stop notorious criminals from selling book and movie
rights or their personal effects.
"James is not notorious," Marcus said at the time.
Andy Kahan, who runs the crime victims assistance office in Houston,
disputed that stance, pointing out that Allridge was visited by Sarandon a
few weeks before his execution date.
Sarandon won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean, a
Catholic nun who aids a condemned killer in the movie Dead Man Walking.
(source: Associated Press)
******************
Dotson deemed ready for murder trial
Former Baylor University basketball player Carlton Dotson has regained his
competence to stand trial in the shooting death of former teammate Patrick
Dennehy, a state hospital psychologist reports.
In an eight-page report to 54th State District Judge George Allen dated
Jan. 26, Thomas Gray, a psychologist at the North Texas State Hospital,
said Dotson, 22, is ready to be returned to the McLennan County Jail, 65
days after he was transferred to the Vernon facility.
Allen last year stayed all matters in Dotson's murder case and declared
him incompetent to stand trial in Dennehy's June 2003 shooting death after
concurring diagnoses by three court-appointed mental health professionals.
Dennehy's disappearance and death drew national attention, much of it
focused on irregularities in the university's basketball program.
In a report signed by Dr. Joseph Black, chief psychiatrist in the Vernon
hospital's competency program, Gray reports Dotson has been diagnosed with
a non-specified psychotic disorder, but that the symptoms the
6-foot-7-inch former forward has reported, including hearing voices and
seeing things, are "suspect."
"Mr. Dotson has reported various psychotic symptoms, focused especially on
voices he says he hears," Gray writes in his report summary. "His
accounting of these symptoms has been markedly inconsistent from interview
to interview, and results of psychological testing contribute to the
conclusion that his report of symptoms is suspect."
McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch said his deputies will go to Vernon to
pick up Dotson "as soon as we get the paperwork." Dotson spent most of his
stay at the county jail in the medical segregation unit because of his
ongoing psychological issues.
Lynch said he is not sure where Dotson will be housed when he returns.
"We will see what kind of information we get back from the hospital and we
will use that information in his best interest," the sheriff said. "We
also will have to see what his attorneys want."
Waco attorneys Russ Hunt and Abel Reyna represent Dotson. Hunt said
Thursday that if Dotson is competent as reported, he is eager to visit
him.
"The next step for me and Abel is to visit with him about the facts of the
offense because, quite frankly, we have never talked to him about the
facts of the offense because it was our opinion that he needed to be
evaluated and we didn't want to do anything to compromise the psychiatric
evaluation. So we didn't want to talk to him."
District Attorney John Segrest said, assuming that Dotson remains
competent, the earliest he will be tried is May because other special
trial settings have Allen's court tied up until then. Allen has set aside
two weeks for Dotson's trial, Segrest said.
Gray's report to the judge summarizes Dotson's background, mentioning that
he grew up in Maryland, the oldest of 6 children born to a woman who, in
addition to possibly having sickle cell anemia, also had serious problems
with cocaine and other drug abuses.
Dotson was raised by his great-grandparents while most of his siblings
were raised in foster care, the report says. Dotson reported beginning to
smoke marijuana when he was 16 or 17 and said he used it daily during his
"college years."
The report says Dotson's coaches at Baylor referred him for counseling
because he seemed to lack motivation, had trouble sleeping and "ruminated
on negative thoughts."
After Dotson's arrest in Maryland on the murder charge in July 2003,
Dotson reported to doctors that he heard voices, saw things that others
could not see and had the ability to read minds. After he was transferred
to the McLennan County Jail, Dotson may have hoarded his sleeping
medication in an attempt to overdose in December 2003, Gray notes.
Doctors at the Vernon hospital put Dotson on antipsychotic medication,
which has helped him, according to the report. Still, in December 2004,
Dotson told hospital officials he continued to hear voices. He also said
he believed he was a king making "worldly decisions" and referred to
himself as the "King of Black People."
"When Dr. Black asked him how Jesse Jackson might feel about that, Mr.
Dotson smiled broadly, but then quickly asked who Jesse Jackson is," Gray
wrote in his report.
Gray said it is essential that Dotson receive ongoing psychiatric care,
that he take the prescribed medications and refrain from using alcohol and
illegal drugs.
"Failure to follow these recommendations could well result in
deterioration of his condition and a return to trial incompetency," Gray
said.
(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)
******************
Kidnapping suspect to face capital murder charge
A kidnapping charge against 1 of 2 suspects in the death of Dallas
businessman Oscar Sanchez will probably be upgraded to capital murder
Tuesday, police said Friday.
Jose Alberto Felix, 28, remained in the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on
Friday with bail set at $1 million. He is also on an immigration hold.
Sanchez's body was found Thursday morning in a wooded area in southeast
Dallas under construction debris. The Dallas County Medical Examiner's
Office has not released the cause of death.
Police believe that Sanchez was killed shortly after being kidnapped Jan.
18 from an Oak Cliff street while talking on a cellphone with his mother.
Police said they tracked phone calls made by Sanchez's captors to a
Duncanville home that Felix owns. Signs of a bloody struggle were found at
the home, police said.
Sgt. Gil Cerda, a Dallas police spokes-man, declined to say whether
Sanchez was killed while attempting to escape, as the Sanchez family's
attorney suggested Thursday.
That Dallas attorney, Mike McKinley, said he had learned that Sanchez was
killed within hours of the ransom demand and possibly during an escape
attempt.
Felix was arrested Sunday in Chicago at Midway Airport after trying to
board a flight to Guadalajara, Mexico. During interrogation in Chicago, he
gave police information that led them to the remote wooded area where
Sanchez's body was found.
A second man wanted in the kidnapping, Edgar Acevedo, 24, flew out of
Chicago O'Hare Airport on Saturday and is believed to be in Guadalajara.
Police have said they are in contact with Mexican authorities seeking his
capture and extradition.
Acevedo had worked on and off at El Ranchito restaurant in Oak Cliff, most
recently in late November. The Sanchez family operates El Ranchito and La
Calle Doce restaurants in the Oak Cliff and Lakewood areas of Dallas.
Felix's sister, Karla Felix, and his attorney, John Hampton Read, defended
him Friday during a news conference. KXAS/Channel 5 reported that Read
said the slaying occurred in Felix's home, but that Acevedo was the
killer. Felix's attorney and sister said he was forced to participate in
the kidnapping out of fear of Acevedo.
An arrest warrant says that the kidnappers and Sanchez's family had
negotiated a $78,000 ransom, but that the kidnappers did not show up at
the drop-off site on Abram Street in Arlington.
Felix had a valid visa on file for the Dallas school district's
alternative certification program, said Donnie Claxton, a district
spokesman. He said that Felix worked in the district from August 2003
until Nov. 22, 2004.
"He had said he needed a leave and departed without word," Claxton said.
Alternatively certified teachers do not have teaching degrees but do have
degrees or work experience related to the subjects they teach. Several
states have used alternative certification to alleviate teacher shortages.
Funeral Mass
- 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe,
2215 Ross Ave. in Dallas.
(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
*******************
Lawyer says client didn't help kill restaurateur
An attorney for a man charged with kidnapping a prominent restaurateur who
was found slain last week says his client didn't help kill Oscar J.
Sanchez and was coerced, sometimes at gunpoint, by another suspect who led
the moneymaking scheme.
Jose Felix's attorney said the true mastermind was Edgar Acevedo, a former
waiter at one of the Sanchez family restaurants who was out for money and
to punish the family.
"I'm here to tell you Jose Felix is not a murderer, is not a capital
murderer," Dallas lawyer John Read said during a news conference Friday.
"He doesn't have the heart for it. There was a lot of coercion in this
case, you'll find out later, lots of sex, money, things that motivate
people in these kind of cases."
Police received Sanchez's autopsy report Friday afternoon and may upgrade
Felix's aggravated kidnapping charge, possibly to capital murder, said
Dallas police Sgt. Gil Cerda.
Felix, a 28-year-old out-of-work teacher, was arrested last weekend at
Chicago Midway airport trying to board a flight to Mexico. He was
extradited to Texas and remained in a Dallas County jail.
Felix told police last week that Sanchez was killed hours after his
abduction and told police where to find the body. Police found Sanchez's
remains Thursday in a remote area of South Dallas, under some construction
equipment.
Acevedo remained at large. He was thought to have flown from Chicago to
Guadalajara the day before Felix's arrest.
Sanchez, 30, whose family owns several popular Mexican restaurants in
Dallas, vanished from his car Jan. 18. His family said the captors sought
as much as $3 million ransom.
Felix's attorney said he went along with the scheme only because Acevedo
threatened to kill him and/or his relatives in Mexico. Read refused to
characterize his client's exact involvement in the kidnapping.
The defense attorney also asserted that Acevedo and Sanchez had at least a
social relationship.
"My understanding at this point of the investigation is that in the past,
they had some kind of a relationship, they'd go out to clubs together,"
Read said in Saturday's editions of The Dallas Morning News.
An attorney for the Sanchez family and close friends of Sanchez said
Read's suggestion of a relationship between the two men is outlandish.
"You're insulting my intelligence," said Mike McKinley, an attorney
serving as the family's spokesman. "This defense lawyer is brilliant, and
you guys are getting sucked right into it. ... People who know Oscar know
this is pure garbage."
McKinley said the 2 men were acquainted only through the family's
restaurant business. Acevedo worked as a waiter at El Ranchito on and off
until November 2004.
Felix's father and 2 of his sisters appeared at the news conference with
Read and said the suspect is a caring, accomplished man with a spotless
background.
Dallas immigration officials filed paperwork this week to ensure that
Felix remains in custody even if he becomes eligible for release. Felix
was in the United States on a work visa and was a teacher in Dallas until
he stopped showing up for work in late November.
Sanchez is survived by his wife of four years, Theresa; his daughter,
Helena, born in December. Funeral services were scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Monday at Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe Catholic Church in
Dallas.
(source: Associated Press)
********************
Judge Says Guilty Plea in Smuggling Must Stand
A federal judge refused on Friday to allow a woman who had confessed to
leading the nation's worst smuggling debacle to withdraw her guilty plea,
despite defense claims that the government had turned a blind eye to the
smuggling.
The judge, Vanessa D. Gilmore, allowed last July's guilty plea by the
defendant, Karla Chavez, to stand, with little ground for appeal. That
leaves Ms. Chavez facing life in prison when she is sentenced in May in
the deaths of 19 people sealed in a searing tractor trailer in South Texas
in May 2003. The truck driver is awaiting trial on charges that carry the
death penalty.
Lawyers for Ms. Chavez moved last week to revoke her plea, arguing in part
that she had been deprived of the right to make an informed decision.
Citing hearsay accounts, the lawyers, John C. LaGrappe and Jeffrey D.
Sasser, raised the possibility that the truck packed with 74 people may
have been under surveillance, may have been X-rayed at a checkpoint in
Sarita, Tex., or may have been waved through after payoffs to border
agents.
The United States attorney, Michael T. Shelby, and other prosecutors said
in opposing papers that the government had no advance knowledge of the
scheme and had no evidence of bribery. They said Ms. Chavez had reneged on
her agreement to provide truthful testimony and cooperate with the
government.
The hearing on Friday was the defense's chance to present its evidence. It
began with high drama when Mr. LaGrappe said his first witness was so
afraid for his life that he needed to testify in secret. The judge agreed,
ordering news reporters and spectators out, overruling an objection by the
news media.
Later, however, on a media lawyer's motion to unseal a transcript of the
witness's 45-minute testimony, the judge agreed, with the witness's name
redacted. The record showed he was a 49-year-old Houstonian who in 2003
had volunteered his services to federal agents as a way of protecting his
daughter, who "had gotten involved with some shady characters who were
dealing with money laundering and illegal alien smuggling."
In March 2004, he said, he became a confidential informant for the
immigration and customs enforcement division of the Department of Homeland
Security.
He said that in March 2003 he learned that smugglers were carting
immigrants in trailer trucks on Route 77 through the Sarita checkpoint,
south of Corpus Christi, and a year later, when he was an informant, he
told his immigration and customs handler, Gary Rennick, that one of the
smugglers who had been operating for 3 years "had a Border Patrol agent in
his pocket."
The witness said he was told "not to worry about it." But under
cross-examination he acknowledged knowing nothing about events on May 13
and 14, 2003, when the truck with the 74 immigrants made its way through
South Texas and the Sarita checkpoint. At one point, the two defense
lawyers, Mr. LaGrappe and Mr. Sasser, began sniping so heatedly at each
other over what questions to ask that Judge Gilmore asked: "What is this?
Is this, like, you know, Fric and Frac practicing law?"
A second defense witness, Chris Petrowski, 35, testifying in a
Transportation Security Administration shirt and ID badge, said he was
ordered dismissed on Oct. 31 as a baggage screener at Houston's Hobby
Airport after he complained about security lapses. "If it was busy we
didn't check anything," he said.
He said that during pleasure trips through El Paso to Mexico he had seen
trucks from Mexico being waved through without checks. But he also
acknowledged having no information on the events at Sarita. Outside court
he was confronted by a federal officer who demanded that he hand over his
ID and shirt.
A final witness was a former Houston deputy constable, Thomas Will, cited
in defense papers as a source of information on a customs agent supposedly
transferred to Arizona in retaliation for complaining about security
problems at Sarita. Mr. Will said he had lied when he told Mr. Sasser that
he had talked to the agent's wife and that she had confirmed the transfer.
"I never talked to the agent; I never talked to the wife of the customs
agent," he said.
(source: New York Times)
