August 9
TEXAS:
2nd confession heard in apartments slayings case
When 29-year-old Sandra Ramos was confronted in her apartment by a young
man with a gun last year, the quick-thinking bartender with a pretty smile
did what her instincts told her - she called her attacker "Sweetie."
At first, she tried to talk her way into his heart so he would spare her
life. Later, she begged him not to kill her - to no avail.
That was the testimony Monday afternoon as a San Antonio police detective
read the second confession given by 21-year-old Noah Espada, who is on
trial on capital murder charges in connection with 2 slayings that
occurred in late February and early March of 2004.
Espada is accused of suffocating Ramos early on Feb. 29, 2004, after he
mistook her North Side apartment for that of his intended target,
30-year-old Luther "Luke" Scott.
Scott was the general manager of Polly Esther's Dance Plex, a popular
River Walk club. He had fired Espada from his job as a barman 2 weeks
earlier. Espada is accused of returning to the same apartment complex
early in the morning 2 days later, where he ambushed Scott, shooting him
three times.
Ramos and Scott did not know each other. Their slayings, at first,
appeared to be unrelated, but they did live near one another in the
Altamonte Apartments in the 12400 block of Starcrest Drive.
According to testimony last week, Espada was arrested the following March
18, after detectives were tipped off to the location of Scott's sports
car, which was stolen after his death. Lead investigators in each case
questioned Espada and obtained signed confessions after each interview.
But although Espada was quick to confess to Scott's murder, he was
reluctant to admit to the Ramos slaying.
Detective Robert Handowski testified that with little to go on, he was
able to bluff Espada into thinking police had already tied him to the
Ramos crime. A hush fell over the packed gallery in the 379th District
Court as Handowski began reading Espada's 2-page confession.
"Other than telling me there is no pride in killing a woman, he didn't
show any remorse," Handowski recalled. "He said he wanted the death
penalty. He said he was afraid he would be raped in prison."
In the confession, Espada explained how a week before Ramos' death he had
followed Scott home from work and had thought he had located Scott's
apartment.
When he went back the next weekend, he climbed three stories, entered
Ramos' unit through a balcony door and found the woman inside. When he
asked where "Luke" was, Ramos said she didn't know anybody by that name.
"She called me 'Sweetie.' I didn't want to do her. I walked back and forth
and tried to figure out what to do. She said, 'Please don't kill me. I
can't see without my glasses.' She took her glasses off and threw them on
the bed. I believed her when she said she didn't know Luke," Handowski
quoted Espada as saying.
Espada said he thought about leaving, but then realized that his plan to
ambush Scott would have been in jeopardy because, "she would have (told
police) 'I don't know what he looks like, but he's after a guy named
Luke,'" according to the confession.
Espada said he then hit Ramos in the head with his gun in an effort to
knock her out and give himself a chance to flee. When she remained
conscious, he began binding her hands and feet with duct tape, and he
pulled out a plastic garbage bag.
"I didn't know what to do, so I put the bag on top of her head. I put the
bag on her head, and she kicked around. I tightened it over her head for
about a minute. She was, like, rattling when I left. It was kind of like a
prolonged snore," Espada stated in the confession.
Earlier Monday, Espada's ex-girlfriend at the time of the slayings
testified that he had admitted killing Scott, but that she didn't believe
him. She said she still doesn't think he did it.
"He told me about getting the new car. And then he told me he had gotten
back at that manager. He asked me what I thought about what he had done. I
told him I didn't believe him," recalled Allison Montoya, 22.
(source: San Antonio Express-News)
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Veteran prosecutor to run for county court bench
Veteran prosecutor Mike Freeman announced Monday that he will seek the
Republican nomination for judge of McLennan County Court-at-Law No. 1.
Freeman, 60, has spent the last 13 years with the McLennan County District
Attorney's Office, prosecuting such high-profile defendants as serial
killer Kenneth Allen McDuff; Rowena Ledbetter, dubbed the "black widow"
after she fatally poisoned a retired Waco police lieutenant; and capital
murder defendants Gerald Wayne Tigner, Michael Dewayne Johnson and Carroll
Joe Parr.
McDuff and Tigner have since been executed. Johnson and Parr remain on
death row.
"In my job as assistant district attorney, I have had a passion for
protecting the rights of McLennan County citizens," Freeman said during
his campaign announcement at the McLennan County Courthouse attended by
his family and about 40 supporters. "Now I would like to transfer that
passion to the County Court-at-Law bench."
County Court-at-Law No. 1 Judge Tom Ragland, who was presiding over a
misdemeanor assault trial during Freeman's announcement, declined comment
Monday through his court administrator. He has said that he will seek
re-election as a Democrat.
Ragland, 69, was appointed judge by the local Democratic Party executive
committee in August 2002 after David Hodges forfeited his right to run for
re-election after 20 years on the bench when he voted in the March 2002
Republican primary.
A native of West Texas, Freeman grew up on a farm and earned a bachelor's
degree in accounting from Abilene Christian College and a law degree from
the University of Tulsa. He served four years in the Navy and was in
charge of the legal office for the Naval Communications Station while
stationed at Guam.
After the service, Freeman practiced law in McCook, Neb., for several
years before he was elected county attorney, a position similar to a
district attorney in Texas, that he held for 15 years. He said he and his
family decided to return to Texas, moving to Waco 13 years ago.
"Since that time, I have had the opportunity to offer solace to victims
and their family members whose lives have forever been altered by the
intentional violent acts of predators within our society," Freeman said.
"28 years of public service has taught me how fragile the balance is
between a civilized society and one of chaos and violence."
Freeman said that his "knowledge, skills and common sense" make him a
formidable candidate for the job.
"Together, we can make our society a safer place in which to live," he
said. "The most important thing in dealing with criminals is swift and
sure punishment for the guilty. We must speed up the system and we must
take the necessary steps for curtailing the floodgates of crime against
our county's residents."
McLennan County has 2 county courts-at-law that handle misdemeanor
criminal cases, civil cases and contested probate matters.
Freeman and his wife, Karon, have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. He is a
member of the Robinson Church of Christ and is a referee for area high
school football games and is an on-field timekeeper at Baylor home
football games.
(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)
USA:
Jurors more active in U.S. courtrooms
The practice of allowing jurors in trials to pass written questions of
witnesses to the judge is on the rise in the United States.
Judges review written questions with the attorneys in the case, and on
rare occasions, an attorney will object, or a judge will not allow a
question because it violates the rules of evidence.
But in last month's Portland trial against a former Oregon youth probation
officer charged with sexual abuse, the jury asked 84 questions, and only 3
were ruled out, the Oregonian reported Monday.
Deputy District Attorney Traci Anderson, who prosecuted the man, said
she's happy with jury participation. "I'm always impressed that a jury
that doesn't know the case from Adam can think of the million-dollar
question that I forgot," she said.
The jury in the Portland case deliberated more than 18 hours over 3 days
and found the defendant guilty of sexually abusing 4 boys on his caseload.
Judges in 31 states now invite juror questions, according to the Center
for Jury Studies at the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg,
Va.
(source: United Press International)
INDIANA:
The death penalty and the delusional
Good luck to Sarah Nagy, lawyer for condemned killer Arthur P. Baird II,
in her quest to get clemency for her client on the grounds that he is
mentally ill. Shell need it.
Indiana has grappled, sometimes reluctantly, with the appropriateness of
executing people who might not appreciate the nature of what they have
done and what the consequences should be - children, for example, and the
mentally retarded. But, so far, it seems unwilling to entertain the
possibility that delusional people should get the same benefit of the
doubt.
Bairds case raises some troubling issues that deserve further discussion.
For example, does it matter more - or equally - whether someone was
delusional at the time of his crime or is delusional at the time of his
scheduled execution? In a July 19 ruling, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled
that Baird was not unfairly sentenced because of his mental illness at the
time of the crime. But Justice Robert D. Rucker, though ruling with the
majority, wrote separately because he wanted to emphasize that Baird had
made no claim based on his present mental state. "I continue to believe
that a sentence of death is inappropriate for a person suffering a severe
mental illness," Rucker wrote.
Baird is scheduled to be executed later this month. Nagy thinks she has a
strong case for mercy to present to the parole board. But that group has
granted clemency only once since Indiana reinstituted the death penalty in
1977.
(source: Editorial, Fort Wayne News Sentinel)
