Feb. 20
TEXAS----stay of execution
No execution Thursday for Staley
A Denver man facing execution Thursday in Texas for the 1989 slaying of a
Fort Worth restaurant manager -- has won a reprieve.
A judge in Fort Worth ruled that 43-year-old Steven Kenneth Staley is
incompetent to be executed -- at this time.
Staley was condemned over the killing during a during a botched robbery.
The victim was 35-year-old Robert Read. He was taken hostage following a
robbery at a Steak and Ale.
A judge Friday canceled Staley's scheduled execution -- until further
notice -- after psychologists for both the inmate and prosecutors
determined he's incompetent.
Defense attorney Jack Strickland says that Staley, since 1991 when he
first was sent to death row, been hospitalized now 16 or 17 times because
he's psychotic.
Prosecutor Chuck Mallon says officials are considering filing a motion to
forcefully medicate Staley.
(source: Associated Press)
***************
GOP candidates for district attorney use forum to argue views
A debate between district attorney candidates heated up Sunday as Matt
Powell and Tommy Turner exchanged viewpoints.
Both Republican contenders were allowed equal time to answer questions
regarding the Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney position during
the forum at the Mae Simmons Community Center.
Tommy Turner, an attorney for more than 30 years, is trying to unseat
current Criminal District Attorney Matt Powell, who was appointed in
December.
"I'm not gonna swap licks about trial experience," Turner said. "I'm not
gonna swap licks about who directly is the best, but I am gonna tell you
that if you live in Lubbock, you live in an area that is in the midst of a
problem."
Turner claims that there is a crime problem in Lubbock and to not address
that problem is to be in denial.
Powell said he is not solely responsible for the crime rate.
"I found out this week with an ad that I'm now responsible for the 4th
worst crime rate in the state of Texas - me personally," Powell said. "And
I'm responsible for the worst child abuse problem that we have across the
state of Texas - me personally. Well, to me that is a slap on a great law
enforcement, a great district attorney, and this is a team effort."
Turner said he is dismayed about how many more charges are filed against
minority children then white children for the same offenses.
"I didn't want to believe that happened here in Lubbock," Turner said,
"because that's not like me."
Powell said that race and status played no part in any criminal conviction
he's dealt with, adding that he would dispute it with anybody that says
differently.
"What I care about is whether or not you've committed a crime," Powell
said.
Turner said there needs to be more communication between defense lawyers
and the Criminal District Attorney's Office.
"You simply have to talk to each other in order to get things done,"
Turner said.
"I know personally because I returned a phone call to an attorney (in the
DA's office) 5 times," Turner said, "and I never got a callback."
Turner said that it's a bad way to start out your professional life by not
returning phone calls.
"That has to change, "Turner said, "and it will when I'm the district
attorney."
Powell says he has a great relationship with the defense bar.
"We have a good criminal defense bar in Lubbock County," Powell said. "I'm
very pleased."
Turner touched on the timeliness of case filings.
"Presently, for whatever reason," Turner said, "there appears to be a
delay in case filings...I don't know why. But a delay of 30 days is
unacceptable."
"Last year, 30-day delays in case filings and people being in jail until a
decision was made, cost the county $250,000 for misdemeanors," Turner
said.
Turner said his goal is to find out where the problem is.
"You don't file everything that comes down the pipe," Turner said. "I
think that's being done now, and that's just not an efficient way to do
it. It costs money we don't need to spend, and we could spend better
elsewhere."
Powell said he disagrees.
"You need to come down to the DA's office and spend some time as to what's
going on down there," Powell said, "because the majority of cases get
filed within 72 hours of being presented."
Both Turner and Powell agree that it's a good idea to use audio and video
recordings for protection and preservation of evidence.
"It keeps everybody honest," Turner said.
Powell said that they don't hear as many complaints about officers on the
streets because of recordings.
Turner said that the pay scale for criminal defense lawyers needs to be
raised.
"You have to pay the lawyers at a scale that will keep them here," Turner
said. "You don't want a revolving door."
Powell disagrees that they are not adequately compensated.
"Lubbock County spends over $2 million a year on criminal defense," Powell
said.
The forum was sponsored by the African-American Chamber of Commerce, the
Hispanic Agenda and the League of Women Voters of Lubbock County.
(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
*********************
Prosecutor aiming for judge in GOP primary
State District Judge James Wilson knew his campaign was going to be ugly.
And that was before he had an opponent.
First, Wilson's friends distributed a cartoon last summer portraying
prosecutor Mollee Westfall, who hadn't officially decided to enter the
Republican Party primary, in a tight, black "Girlz Gone Wild" T-shirt and
saying, "I've been a very bad girl."
Then Westfall, after filing to run, began distributing material that
accuses Wilson of making inappropriate comments about cases in his court,
allowing a capital murder defendant to win an acquittal because of a
judicial error and allowing a convicted sex offender to escape after
letting him out of jail on bail.
"You can find mistakes on everybody up here," Wilson said. "The fact of
the matter is, I do a good job here."
Westfall, a veteran in the Tarrant County district attorney's office,
disagrees.
"He is well-known for being a poor judge and a loose cannon," Westfall
said.
Wilson, 50, is the only Tarrant County criminal court judge to draw an
opponent in the March 7 primary.
He was first elected to the bench in 1994.
At the time he was a little-known Arlington lawyer who had practiced law
for about 5 years. Before that he had worked as a limousine driver and
as a production manager for a furniture-restoration company.
Wilson said he's handled about 13,000 cases in the past 12 years. He's
presided over several high-profile cases, including the murder trial of
Chante Mallard, convicted in 2003 of leaving a homeless man impaled in the
windshield of her car.
Wilson says that he has given equal treatment to the prosecution and the
defense during his 3 terms.
His latest campaign contribution report shows that he has raised $24,145
from the criminal defense bar as well as from law enforcement groups and
bail bond agents.
"50 % of that courtroom is going to hate you, no matter what," Wilson
said. "I will continue to run the court in the most efficient manner
possible with equal justice for all, swift and appropriate punishment for
the guilty and compassion for the victims of crime."
Wilson's tenure, however, includes instances in which prosecutors and
defense attorneys have questioned his judgment.
Wilson admits he stumbled by being involved with the campaign cartoon
drawn and distributed by Arlington political activists Dick Malec and Bill
Eastland.
Titled "Mollee's Follies," it criticized Westfall for buying the Web
domain name JudgeJamesWilson.com and accused her of identity theft. It
also said she got the idea from a registered sex offender who used
District Attorney Tim Curry's name on a Web site criticizing Curry.
The judge said that Malec has done other printing work for him, but that
he did not authorize the cartoon or agree to send it out.
"It's offensive to me. ... It was in poor taste," Wilson said. "It was
supposed to scare her off, according to Dick."
Wilson recently had to step down from Arlington pastor Terry Hornbuckle's
sexual assault trial after defense attorney Mike Heiskell accused Wilson
of being biased, prejudiced and setting an unreasonably high bond.
In court records, Heiskell said Wilson swore at him and demanded that he
"leave my court and never come back."
It is the second time Wilson has been accused of making inappropriate
comments about his court cases.
8 years ago, Wilson was replaced as the judge in the capital murder trial
of Robert Neville after Wilson told reporters that the defendant and his
accomplice were not the "brightest apples on the tree."
Neville eventually was convicted of the 1998 slaying of Amy Robinson.
In 2002, Wilson made headlines again when Samuel B. Hill's life sentence
for capital murder was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
after it ruled that Wilson improperly declared a mistrial -- even though
neither side asked for one -- after a juror said she could not serve.
Hill's defense attorney didn't want the juror dismissed. Prosecutors
wanted to continue with 11 jurors, as was allowed by law.
And in 1996, also over prosecutors' objections, Wilson released convicted
sex offender Michael Todd Anderson on bail pending a sentencing hearing.
Anderson ripped his ankle monitor off and fled. He was found 5 days later
and sentenced to 27 years.
Wilson dismisses the incidents, mentioned by Westfall on the campaign
trail, as "extremely old" and "much ado about nothing."
But Westfall said Wilson's behavior shows that he's "not the shiniest
apple on the tree."
Westfall, 34, has worked in the Tarrant County district attorney's office
for a decade, handling more than 60 felony jury trials. For three years,
she specialized in prosecuting defendants accused of sexually assaulting
and abusing children.
In 2004, for the 1st time in Tarrant County, Westfall helped convict a
drunken driver of murder.
Westfall, who has been named a "Super Lawyer Rising Star" in Texas Monthly
for the past 2 years and is married to criminal defense lawyer Greg
Westfall, has raised $27,025 in campaign contributions, according to her
latest report. She got contributions from defense attorneys and colleagues
in the district attorney's office.
"I have obtained hundreds of convictions resulting in thousands of years
of prison time for the worst offenders," Westfall said in a letter seeking
campaign contributions. "I am deeply troubled by what has been happening
in the 371st District Court."
Westfall said that Wilson's improper remarks in the Neville and Hornbuckle
cases call his personal judgment into question and that his actions in the
Hill case show he may not understand the law. She points out that in a
2005 Tarrant County Bar poll, almost 47 % of the attorneys surveyed
disagreed when asked whether Wilson understood or applied the law
correctly.
She said records also indicate that Wilson's operation of the court is far
from efficient. At the end of January, Wilson had 1,169 pending cases, one
of the biggest backlogs among the county's felony district courts. He also
had the most defendants, 44, sitting in the Tarrant County Jail awaiting a
probation revocation hearing.
If elected, Westfall promised to reduce the court's backlog by keeping the
pressure on to move cases. And while she's spent most of her career as a
prosecutor, Westfall said she won't be afraid to "call sloppy prosecution
sloppy prosecution and sloppy police work sloppy police work."
"I want someone [on the bench] who will follow the law and be
predictable," she said.
(source : Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
FLORIDA:
The University of Miami School of Law and the University of Miami Ethics
Programs will present, "Wrongful Convictions: Psychological and Legal
Issues," Friday in room 352 starting at 1 p.m.
The symposium will include former Attorney General Janet Reno discussing
prevention of wrongful convictions through the use of the legal system.
Juan Melendez will recount his harrowing experience of being wrongfully
charged, convicted, and having served 17 years on death row, before being
exonerated in 2002.
In addition, distinguished Iowa State Professor Gary Wells, Ph.D., the
preeminent researcher on eyewitness testimony will discuss why eyewitness
identification is a frequent contributor to wrongful convictions and
present suggestions for reform. The symposium is free and open to the
public. RSVP: (305) 284-2592.
(source: The Daily Record)
GEORGIA:
Deadly stubbornness
Georgia's execution of death penalties should be halted until the state
can assure fairness in both trials and appeals, a recent study/report by
10 prominent Georgians for the American Bar Association recommended. The
reaction from Gov. Sonny Perdue's office was one word: "Nope." And
Attorney General Thurbert Baker office said he doesn't agree with the idea
either.
Obviously, this "hang 'em high" attitude, even in face of considerable
evidence of the potential for miscarriages of justice, is a bipartisan one
in this state. Perdue is a Republican; Baker is a Democrat.
This newspaper has never opposed the death penalty, although it believes
there's often too much of an "eye for an eye" fervor to it and a denial of
the potential for human redemption. There will always be cases where the
person sentenced poses so great a danger alive, even behind bars, that
society is better of with him or her dead -- think of the fictional
Hannibal Lecter ("Silence of the Lambs").
Nonetheless, when it comes to the state, in the name of the people, ending
a life it is far wiser to let cooler heads prevail, such as that of Harold
Clarke, retired Georgia Supreme Court chief justice and a member of the
ABA study team. "There are too many instances -- and one's too many," he
said, "where folks are convicted and turn out not to be guilty. And then
there are some more that we probably never know about."
If someone is going to be killed in our name, let's at least be sure the
right thing is being done.
As the panel pointed out, such certainty is not now possible because there
are 7 severe flaws in the existing system, including no guarantee of
lawyers for death-row inmates pursing appeals, the worst hurdles in the
nation for proving mental retardation, no guard against jurors
misunderstanding a judge's instructions about what evidence they can
consider, and clear disparities in outcome based upon race.
It took the study team 323 pages to detail all the troubles with Georgia's
death penalties.
If the state is to maintain the death penalty then there can be no room
for making a "mistake" that can never be rectified. It would be better to
impose a moratorium -- all that means is you don't kill anybody while the
system is being fixed, not that those people won't ever face their penalty
-- than to make a single error.
Moratoriums currently exist in Illinois and New Jersey. Maryland had one
until it reformed its laws. The death penalties in New York and Kansas
were both found unconstitutional by the courts in 2004 and have not yet
been repaired -- a situation that Georgia could face if it just continues
to refuse to at least look into the matter. The ABA, after all, is made up
of lawyers who know how to file and argue lawsuits.
IF, AS THE ATTORNEY general and many local prosecutors appear to believe,
the existing Georgia safeguards are entirely adequate they should welcome
such a court test. However, when it is possible to find 323 pages of "less
than desirable" information the assumption should be something may be
amiss and prudence demands "better safe than sorry."
A moratorium, other than delaying the satisfaction of revenge and blood
lust on the part of some, is not justice denied. It is merely justice
delayed for the one woman and 100 men currently on Georgia's death row,
and the untold dozens that will ultimately join them there, until there is
assurance that justice will indeed be done.
That's not unwarranted. That's simply being careful.
Are the governor and attorney general correct in stonewalling this
request? Nope.
(source: Rome News-Tribune)
