Nov. 29
TEXAS:
Houston homicides already past '04----285 killings in just under 11 months
exceed last year's 274
With 14 slayings over the Thanksgiving weekend, Houston has surpassed the
number of homicides for all of last year, adding to the concern of police
officials who this summer created a task force to address a potential
surge in violence.
As of midnight Sunday, Houston recorded 285 homicides for the year; last
year, Houston recorded 274 such deaths. Both are far fewer than the record
701 people slain in 1981.
The sudden surge is a cause of worry among city and police officials,
Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said Monday during an afternoon news
conference where he provided a statistical snapshot of homicides and crime
in Houston.
He said an analysis of the last 90 days determined that 50 % of the
slayings occurred in apartments or apartment parking lots.
Hurtt said he has talked with Mayor Bill White about adopting an ordinance
requiring apartment complexes with high rates of crime to hire security
officers.
"We are very much concerned about apartment complexes," Hurtt said.
"Anytime you have a large cluster of people living in an area like an
apartment complex, there is always the opportunity for conflict, robberies
and property crimes."
Frank Michel, the mayor's communication director, confirmed that Hurtt had
met with White and discussed the idea of requiring security officers at
high-crime complexes.
"The mayor is receptive to that idea," Michel said.
Even before the 14 deaths over the 4-day holiday, police had begun to see
signs of an increase of violence in certain patrol districts, Hurtt said.
Hurtt said a multi-agency task force, including Houston police, focused on
four patrol districts in southwest and west Houston. Since June, he said,
police have arrested 539 people, resulting in 415 felony charges in that
operation.
Hurtt said increased police visibility can have an impact on crime,
including homicide rates.
"By being there, interrogating people, moving individuals along, locating
areas where there is a high concentration of gang activity," he said.
Hurtt said Houston's homicide rate has plummeted from a high of 40 per
100,000 population in the late 1970s and early 1980s to 12.8 per 100,000
through October of this year.
Violent crime, consisting of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault,
is up 1 % in 2005 compared with last year, Hurtt said. Nonviolent crime -
such as burglary, theft and auto theft - is down 3.4 %. And overall, crime
in Houston is down 2.7 % through October of this year compared with the
same period last year.
The weekend slayings, while by far outnumbering those of the past five
years, are not the most ever in the city's history. On a single weekend in
June 1981, from Friday evening to Sunday night, 21 people were slain in
Houston.
Of the 14 slayings, eight appeared to be connected to a disturbance or
argument, Hurtt said, while three or four involved robbery attempts.
Hurtt said the mild Thanksgiving weather meant more people than usual are
out during the night when most homicides occur.
"It was definitely a bad, long weekend," Hurtt said.
In one weekend arrest, a former New Orleans man, an evacuee from Hurricane
Katrina, was charged with murder in the slaying of another evacuee.
Jamal Taylor, 19, was charged with murder in the death of Clifton Hayes,
26, according to Houston police.
About 5:50 p.m. Saturday, police were sent to 5747 Antoine, where officers
learned the shooting actually happened nearby at 6001 Sunforest.
Witnesses told detectives that Hayes, who was armed, knocked on the door
of an apartment and Taylor, who was in the apartment, fired a shot through
the door with a pistol.
Homicide Sgt. M.D. Newcomb said Taylor thought Hayes was someone he had
been involved with in an earlier altercation.
In a separate incident, police were searching for a man who has been
charged with murder in a shooting Saturday night in southeast Houston.
Charles Anthony Colbert, 21, was charged in connection with the death of
Carl Kelley, 19, of 10900 Canarywood. The incident happened about 10:15
p.m. Saturday in the 10900 block of the Gulf Freeway.
Police said Colbert and Kelley got into an argument, and Colbert pulled a
pistol and shot Kelley in the head. Kelley died later at Ben Taub
Hospital.
Police have also released the name of a teenager accidentally shot and
killed. Darian Smith, 13, died Saturday night after being hit in the head
by a shot fired from an adjacent apartment in west Houston. The boy was in
the bathroom of the Westchase Ranch unit at 2205 Hayes, when the gun was
discharged next door, said police Sgt. C. Grysen.
The shot went through two walls and struck him. A man was taken into
custody, but no charges were filed. The shooting will be reviewed by a
grandjury.
Details of 2 other homicides - one in the 4000 block of Hollister and
another in the 14100 block of Fondren - were not available Monday.
*********************
Lethal injection suit can proceed----Ruling allows inmate to collect data
on possible painful effects
Texas' method of executing capital murderers could come under scrutiny in
a courtroom as the result of what some legal observers call a
precedent-setting ruling by a federal judge in Houston.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes this month denied a motion by the state
Attorney General's Office to dismiss death row inmate Charles Raby's
lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection on the
grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment.
Raby's lawyer says the judge's ruling has cleared the way for Raby to gain
access to state documents and employees in an effort to prove that the
chemicals used in the lethal injection process cause a condemned killer to
"suffer an excruciatingly painful and protracted death."
"As far as I know, this is the 1st (lethal injection challenge) case in
Texas where the motion to dismiss has not been granted," said Kevin Mohr,
Raby's attorney.
Kathryn Kase, a representative of the Texas Defender Service, which
provides legal counsel to several Texas death row inmates, agrees with
Mohr's assessment.
"To my knowledge, there is no court in Texas that has let it get this
far," said Kase, who is married to Houston Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen.
"This is a very, very important ruling."
In June 2004, U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore of Houston granted death
row inmate David Ray Harris a stay of execution based on his lawsuit
challenging lethal injection. However, Harris already had an execution
date and the stay was overturned later by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. He was executed on June 30, 2004.
Death penalty expert James Marquart of Sam Houston State University says
this most recent ruling is noteworthy. "It is kind of interesting that
(the judge) would open (the lethal injection question) up," said Marquart.
"I guess everybody will get a chance to present both sides."
Raby does not yet have an execution date.
A spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott could not say whether
the ruling breaks new legal ground.
"Until a decision is reached (on how to proceed), I don't know that we
would discuss that," said spokesman Jerry Strickland. "We are currently
reviewing Judge Hughes' decision and we will make a decision on our
filings at the appropriate time."
In June 1994, Raby, then 22, was sentenced to death for the 1992 slaying
of 72-year-old Edna Franklin in her north Houston home. Her throat was
slit twice, her ribs were broken and her body stabbed several times with a
pocketknife.
In the latest legal battle, Raby's lawyers maintain that, rather than
being a humane form of execution, the drugs used to kill inmates actually
cause an "excruciatingly painful and protracted death."
According to an April 2005 report by the British journal The Lancet, as
many as four of 10 prisoners put to death by injection in the U.S. may
receive inadequate anesthesia, causing them to remain conscious in
tremendous pain.
The ruling by Hughes granting discovery into the constitutionality of
lethal injection is the second judicial decision to go Raby's way this
year. In July, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that he must be
allowed to have DNA tests conducted on clothing and other physical
evidence found at the scene of Franklin's murder.
Sarah Frazier, one of Raby's lawyers, said then that the decision was the
first time the Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal
court, had reversed a lower court's ruling in a question of
post-conviction DNA testing.
One local death penalty opponent said Hughes' recent ruling may prompt
state attorneys to push an execution date.
"The history of the state's conduct in this area has been that it has been
completely committed to maintaining total and complete secrecy," said
David Dow, a University of Houston law professor and an attorney with the
Texas Innocence Network. "And the only way to do that now is to execute
Raby before the (lethal injection) trial can happen."
(source for both: Houston Chronicle)
***********************
Do Not Execute Tony Egbuna Ford!
Tony Egbuna Ford----December 7, 2005
Take action at
www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/ncadp/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1586
Tony Egbuna Ford faces execution on Dec. 7, 2005 for the death of Armando,
a Hispanic teenage boy, and the attempted murders of his mother and his
two adult sisters Myra and Lisa, all three Hispanic women. Two young black
men entered the family's home in El Paso demanding money and then car
keys. One of the men shot each family member upon receiving the car keys.
The three women survived to identify Ford as the shooter.
The only evidence in the case is the two witnesses and a coat, similar to
the one the shooter was wearing, that Ford was wearing when arrested. This
is a weak case for the death penalty. Eye witness testimony is notoriously
inaccurate. Generally witnesses are too scared and under to much stress to
get a good look at a perpetrator and often unable to accurately remember
what they saw.
This case is an excellent example of the problems with eye witness
identification. Myra admitted during trial that she recognized Van Nash
Belton, one of the men who broke in to the house. Because she did not want
him to recognize her she kept her head down while the men were in the
house. She also consistently described the shooter as having a clear
complexion, while Ford's face is, in fact, "marred by seven scars." Myra
viewed the shooter for a short period of time, under high stress, while
trying not to be recognized herself. The room for error is too much for a
death sentence. Furthermore, Lisa's testimony is also questionable. Lisa
did not see the actual shooting take place because her face was buried in
a pillow. She only heard the shots. Additionally, immediately after the
incident Lisa was unable to describe the shooter to police. How could she
be expected to accurately identify him later if she couldn't describe him
immediately after seeing him? Clearly the eye witness testimony in this
case exemplifies the problems with eyewitness testimony and leaves too
much doubt for a death penalty conviction.
Moreover, Ford maintains that, although he did drive to the home in
question on the night of the incident, he was not the shooter. He said
that he rode to the house with Van Nash Belton and Van Nash's brother
Victor Belton. According to Ford he never entered the house; only the
Belton brothers entered the home. Both Victor Belton and Ford are similar
in age, height and build. Ford maintains that he lent Victor his coat to
conceal a gun. Although there may be enough evidence to convict Ford for
aiding an armed robbery, there is not enough evidence for a capital murder
conviction.
Finally it is also important to note that Ford was denied the funds to
obtain an expert witness on eyewitness identification problems. During the
second hearing on this request the judge told the prosecuting attorney to
bring him proof that the defendant did not have a right to such an expert
witness and told the defense that it should re-argue the motion for an
eyewitness expert if the prosecution did not supply the requested proof.
There is no record of the prosecution supplying proof or of the defense
re-arguing the motion. Clearly this demonstrates ineffective assistance of
trial counsel. Eyewitness testimony was not only the most important aspect
of the prosecutions case; the entire case was based on eyewitness
testimony. An expert witness who could have explained the trouble with
eyewitness testimony to the jury could have had a significant impact on
Ford's case. Therefore trial counsel was not merely ineffective, but so
ineffective as to have possibly negatively affected the outcome of Ford's
case.
Indeed, during federal court review of Tony's case, he was provided
funding for an eyewitness identification expert (Roy Malpass, from the
University of Texas-El Paso). With that funding, Tony was able to show how
an expert like Dr. Malpass would have helped explain to the jury the great
risk of erroneous eyewitness identification. Unfortunately, by this time
in the appeals process the burden of proof had shifted from the
prosecution to Ford and he was unable to overcome such a substantial
burden.
The Houston Chronicle recently published an investigative series that
strongly suggested Texas executed an innocent person when Ruben Cantu was
put to death in 1993. The Ford case represents another serious potential
miscarriage of justice. There are too many questions and too much
uncertainty for this execution to proceed.
Please write to Gov. Rick Perry requesting Ford's sentence be commuted.
(source: NCADP)
****************
Edinburg massacre defendant gets life in prison
Accused Tri-City Bomber Jorge "Choche" Norberto Martinez pleaded guilty to
murder Monday in connection with the slayings of 6 men in Edinburg on Jan.
5, 2003.
In exchange for the plea, Judge Bobby Flores sentenced Martinez, 40, to
life in prison. He will not be eligible for parole for 30 years and cannot
appeal his sentence.
Martinez had been charged with capital murder and had faced the death
penalty. Jury selection was set to begin for his trial today in Flores
139th state District Court.
Hidalgo County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Orendain told the judge
that Martinez had participated in the raid on Monte Cristo Road, along
with 12 other gang members who used SKS and AK-47 weapons to shoot the six
men. The assailants had planned to steal a large amount of marijuana from
two houses there, but did not find the drugs. At least two of the victims
were members of the rival Texas Chicano Brotherhood gang, and prosecutors
believe the rivalry led to the slayings.
Martinez told the judge he agreed with the facts as Orendain presented
them.
The judge allowed Martinez to hug his wife, Dena, goodbye before deputies
escorted him from the courtroom. Sobbing hysterically, she fainted and had
to be transported by an ambulance to a local hospital.
In a 4-page statement Martinez gave Edinburg police on Jan. 26, 2003,
Martinez said he learned of the drugs from his friend, Robert Cantu, the
only non-gang member charged in the crime. Cantus girlfriend had allegedly
been at a party at one of the houses the night before and had seen the
drugs. Martinez told police he and Cantu drove together to the houses to
help transport the marijuana, but stayed in the car while the raid
occurred.
Martinez heard shots that night, but told police he was "shocked" the next
day when he watched the news and heard six men had been killed.
"I want to say that none of the murders were ever meant to happen,"
Martinez stated to police.
"Nobody was ever meant to die. They were only to steal the marijuana that
was supposed to be there. I am very sorry for what happened."
Martinez was the 4th man to stand trial for the murders and the first to
plead guilty, avoiding a possible death sentence.
"We felt it was a fair and equitable plea bargain given the fact he faced
death if he goes to trial," said Martinezs attorney, Juan Gonzalez. "We
felt it was something our client should accept, and he agreed."
Juries found Juan Raul Navarro Ramirez, Humberto "Gallo" Garza and Rodolfo
"Kreeper" Medrano guilty of the slayings and sentenced them to death row.
Another man charged in the Edinburg slayings, Robert "Bones" Gene Garza,
is already on death row for a separate multiple homicide tied to the
Tri-City Bombers, the murders of 4 women in Donna in 2002.
In all, 13 men were indicted with the murders and 6 await their capital
murder trials in Hidalgo County Jail. Edinburg police are still looking
for Ricardo "Rica" Caballo Martinez and Juan "Perro" Nuez.
(source: The Monitor)
