Sept. 28 ARIZONA: Phoenix OKs $3 mil Krone settlement ---- Man was twice wrongfully convicted in 1991 death of bartender at lounge The city of Phoenix has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was twice wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death, city officials said. It's the 2nd settlement Ray Krone has received this year from the government. In April, Maricopa County agreed to pay Krone $1.4 million in compensation. "I'm just glad for it to be over," said Krone, who spent more than a decade behind bars, including 2 years on death row. "I hope I won't ever need lawyers again." City Council members approved the settlement last week, city spokeswoman Toni Maccarone said. Krone was a postal worker when he was arrested in 1991 in the killing of Kim Ancona, a bartender who worked at a Phoenix lounge where Krone played darts. He was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to death, based largely on expert testimony that supposedly matched his teeth with bite marks found on Ancona. His conviction was overturned in 1994 on procedural grounds. A new trial was ordered, and Krone was convicted a 2nd time in 1996. In sentencing him the 2nd time, the judge in the case said he wasn't sure that Krone was the killer. He spared Krone the death penalty and sentenced him to life imprisonment. In 2002, new DNA testing proved Krone wasn't the killer. Using an FBI database, DNA from the crime scene was linked to a man already in prison for another crime. A trial for the new suspect is pending. Krone was freed that year, but his wrongful-conviction lawsuit dragged on. In his lawsuit, Krone alleged that Phoenix police did a shoddy job of investigating the murder and didn't look at other suspects closely enough. His lawsuit alleged the county used "altered and manufactured evidence" and that a bite mark expert "gave false testimony which he knew to be untrue." In addition to his mental anguish, Krone said he sued state agencies for the physical pain and suffering he endured. He said he was stabbed, had his arm broken and contracted hepatitis C while in Arizona prisons. Neither the city nor county admitted wrongdoing in settling, lawyers in the case said. Krone won't see all the $4.4 million from the lawsuit. He said some of the money will go to his parents, who spent upward of $300,000 and mortgaged their home to pay for his defense. Krone said he also owes around $500,000 in attorney fees. Also this year, Krone got a new look from the ABC reality show Extreme Makeover. Once dubbed the "snaggletooth killer" for his crooked smile, Krone, 48, now flashes a straight row of pearly whites. He lives in Dover Township, Pa., near his family. He's spent the past few years traveling, speaking out against the death penalty and advocating DNA testing. He serves on the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons. (source: Associated Press) TENNESSEE: Attorneys Ask Marshall Be Spared Death Penalty In Guy Luck Killing Attorneys for one of three men charged with killing Atlanta restauranteur Guy Luck at Collegedale are asking that he not be subject to the death penalty. Attorneys for Joey Montrez Marshall said he was in another vehicle when the victim was shot and said the entire episode was just meant to scare the Atlanta man into not prosecuting them for burglazing his house. Marshall is charged along with Rejohn Taylor and Sir Jack Matthews in the case that is the 1st death penalty matter in Chattanooga Federal Court. The defendants are also from Chattanooga. Attorneys John Cavett and Myrlene Marsa said in a 9-page motion that on the morning of Aug. 6, 2003, Matthews and Taylor picked up Marshall in a 1996 Chevrolet Impala that belonged to Taylor's grandparents. In the car with Taylor and Matthews were a 9mm handgun, a .38-caliber handgun and 2 sets of gloves. They went to the home of Guy Luck in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. The motion says the trio had been involved in a burglary of the Luck residence "and at least part of the purpose in going to his house that morning was to convince him not to prosecute. The plan was to take Luck from his home, make him get out of the van, and leave him there to get home on his own. There is no contention in this case that any of the defendants planned to kill Luck when they kidnapped him." The motion says when the 3 arrived, Matthews and Taylor got out of the car and went into Luck's house. They both had guns with them. Marshall drove around the neighborhood in the car. It says Matthews and Taylor took Luck from his house and put him in the van. The van pulled into the street, and Taylor signalled for Marshall to follow in the car. The van and car traveled north on I-75, stopping eventually in Collegedale. The motion says the van and car drove around the Collegedale area for some time, then the van turned onto Spalding Road. It says Marshall saw the van veer off the road. Almost immediately he saw Matthews, who had blood on him, and Taylor get out. They got in the car with Marshall, and he drove them back to Atlanta. The motion says an eyewitness saw Matthews and Taylor get out of the van and saw Guy Luck stumble out. He was covered in blood and died a short time later. The motion says Luck was shot by both Taylor and Matthews. Matthews was in the back of the van with Luck when it turned onto Spalding Road. It says apparently Luck tried to grab Matthews' gun. A stuggle ensued and Matthews shot Luck once. Then Taylor, who was driving the van, turned around and shot Luck 3 more times. One of those shots also hit Matthews. The motion says, "There was no plan to kill Luck when he was kidnapped. The plan was to scare Luck by leaving him far from home. When Luck's body was examined, he was found to have money in his pockets, confirming their intention was to leave Luck in Tennessee to get back to Atlanta on his own. "It can even be said that there was no plan to kill Luck when he was shot the 1st time by Matthews - that shot being the result of a fight for the gun. The only evidence of an intent to kill is the fact that after Luck was shot, Taylor turned around and shot him three more times. During all of this, Marshall was unarmed in another car. . . To expose Marshall to this death penalty prosecution is a violation of his Eighth Amendment rights as well as a wasteof asset and time." The motion says it is expensive to prosecute and defend death penalty cases. It says Marshall was not an active participant in the murder and should be precluded from death penalty prosecution. (source: The Chattanoogan) ******************** Execution scheduled for '85 stabbing death----Execution was set Feb. 7 for the man who killed MTSU honors graduate Brenda Blanton Lane in 1985. Tennessee Supreme Court justices issued an order Tuesday to impose the death penalty on Gregory Thompson, 43, of Marietta, Ga., who is scheduled to die at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Thompson abducted Lane, 28, of Shelbyville, Jan. 1, 1985 from the Wal-Mart in Shelbyville. He ordered her to drive to Coffee County near Normandy Lake where he fatally stabbed her. He was arrested the next day. Lane worked at the United Methodist Publishing House In Nashville at the time of her death. Before committing the murder, Thompson suffered head injuries from a previous crash and beating, but doctors at Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute determined he was competent to stand trial. Coffee County jurors convicted him of 1st-degree murder and sentenced him to death Aug. 22, 1985. Since then, Thompson has filed numerous appeals on mental health issues. In February 2004, state Supreme Court justices sent the case to Coffee County Circuit Court to determine if Thompson was competent to be executed. Federal and state laws prohibit execution of people who are mentally incompetent. Coffee County Circuit Court determined Thompson didn't show enough reason for a competency hearing. Thompson's appeals advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices announced in June an appeals court improperly gave Thompson a 2nd chance. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed state Attorney General Paul Summers to seek an execution date. (source: The Daily News Journal)
