July 30
ALABAMA:
Murderer granted a victory in court
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday said lawyers for convicted
capital murderer Roy Edward Perkins deserve some material held by
government agencies.
Perkins' lawyers want evidence to show that other lawyers inadequately
represented him during the penalty phase of his trial, and that Tuscaloosa
County Circuit Judge William Scott Donaldson abused his discretion in
denying him access to various state records.
Perkins was convicted in 1994 of capital murder in the kidnapping and
death of Lexington homemaker Cathy Gilliam.
The Alabama Supreme Court upheld his conviction and death sentence, but
the U.S. Supreme Court returned his case to the Alabama Supreme Court to
determine whether Perkins is mentally retarded and therefore ineligible to
be executed.
The Alabama court ruled he was not mentally retarded.
Perkins is in his second round of appeals.
The Court of Criminal Appeals granted 2 of his appellate requests but
denied 4 others.
Specifically, Perkins' lawyers are entitled to various police, medical and
psychological records that might have been useful to mitigate factors that
enabled the judge to sentence Perkins to death, the court said.
He also is entitled to forensic results of crime evidence, the court said.
Perkins allegedly told a Northport police officer he didn't mean to hurt
or "do it" to Gilliam.
(source: The Tuscaloosa News)
