[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

April 12



TEXAS:

Attorney moves to annul Coble execution date


An attorney for condemned murderer Billie Wayne Coble has asked a judge in
Waco to set aside Cobles execution date, set for Aug. 31.

Judge George Allen of Wacos 54th State District Court set Coble's
execution date last month after a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans declined to reconsider its July
2005 rejection of Cobles appeal of his April 1990 capital murder
conviction. Coble, a Vietnam veteran depressed over the impending breakup
of his 3rd marriage, was sentenced to death for killing his estranged
wife's parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, and her brother, Waco police Sgt.
Bobby Vicha, at their Axtell homes on Aug. 29, 1989.

Coble's attorney, Richard Ellis, of Mill Valley, Calif., claims Allen had
no jurisdiction to set Coble's execution date because Ellis still intends
to ask the entire 19-judge federal appeals court in New Orleans to
reconsider Cobles appeal.

Allen said Tuesday that he doesn't intend to take any action on Ellis
motion. District Attorney John Segrest asked Allen to set the execution
date after the state attorney general's office, which represents the state
in federal death penalty appeals, informed him last month that Coble was
eligible for an execution date.

(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)

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Forced medication ordered for death row inmate----Judge rules Death Row
inmate must take anti-psychotic drugs


Death row inmate Steven Kenneth Staley, convicted for killing the manager
of a Steak and Ale nearly 17 years ago, should be physically forced to
take anti-psychotic medication -- an order that, in essence, could make
Staley competent enough to be executed -- a judge ruled Tuesday.

Judge Wayne Salvant's decision came nearly 2 months after he stopped
Staley's execution, ruling that Staley, a paranoid schizophrenic, is too
mentally ill.

The law requires that Staley be mentally competent before he is executed.

"The whole idea of holding somebody down and injecting them so that we can
then say, with a straight face, this person is now competent so we can
kill them, I think that smacks of an Orwellian-Soviet-style approach to
criminal justice," said Jack Strickland, Staley's attorney. "Most people,
even conservatives, would find that very offensive. It bothers me."

Prosecutors Chuck Mallin and Jim Gibson said they filed the motion to
forcibly medicate Staley, who refuses to take his medication, in part to
carry out a jury's decision more than a decade ago that Staley should die
for his crimes.

"People in this community tend to forget the brutal nature of this crime
because it was in 1989, going on 17 years," Mallin said, adding that he
believes this may be the 2st time a Texas judge has ordered an incompetent
death row inmate to be forcibly medicated.

"I'm not going to apologize for any actions we take."

Staley, 43, was sentenced to death in April 1991 for fatally shooting
Robert Read, 35, after taking him hostage during a botched robbery at a
Steak and Ale in west Fort Worth.

According to court records and news stories, Staley and two friends, all
armed with guns, demanded access to the cash register after eating at the
restaurant on Oct. 14, 1989.

As customers and employees huddled at the rear of the restaurant, an
assistant manager slipped out and called police.

Police surrounded the restaurant, and Read, the manager, offered himself
as a hostage to spare the others. The trio took him up on his offer and
held him at gunpoint as they tried to escape.

Read, who was married and had three small children, was fatally shot when
he resisted as the robbers tried to force him into a hijacked car.

Last month, just six days before Staley was to be executed, Salvant
rescinded Staley's death warrant after two doctors testified that he was
incompetent and unable to understand why he has to die.

Last year, Staley came within five hours of execution before an appellate
court stopped the punishment for basically the same reason: Staley's
mental condition had deteriorated so much that he couldn't comprehend his
punishment.

During the hearing in Salvant's court Tuesday, Staley, seated at the
defense table, picked at his unruly hair and red jumpsuit and could be
heard mumbling nonsensical phrases.

At one point, he put his handcuffed hands on the back of his head and said
something that sounded like "Whoop! Tootie fruity. Want to go back to my
cell now."

Staley was recently brought back to the Tarrant County Jail from Death Row
in Livingston for the hearing.

Strickland has said Staley has a long history of mental illness. His
mother was a schizophrenic who attempted to stab Staley and his sister
with a knife and once tried to pound a wooden stake into Staley's chest.

His father was an alcoholic who was killed in a car accident. His
grandfather committed suicide. As a teenager, Staley also attempted
suicide, the documents state.

Since Staley was sent to death row in 1991, he has been hospitalized
nearly 20 times, for as long as 9 months, because he is psychotic.

Strickland argued that forcibly medicating Staley to execute him is
unconstitutional and violates his right to privacy. He said he is not
aware of any case in Texas or in any of the 38 death penalty states where
a court has authorized the forcible medication of an incompetent inmate
for execution.

Prosecutors Mallin and Gibson reminded the judge that inmates are forcibly
medicated all the time in prison. The only difference is they are not on
death row.

The prosecutors maintained that they had an "essential interest" in
carrying out the jury's verdict, that it was medically appropriate to
forcibly medicate Staley and that the side effects of the drugs did not
outweigh the benefits.

In the end, the judge sided with the state, but the issue is far from
over.

Staley will not be forcibly medicated right away.

The judge is giving Strickland time to appeal to a higher court.

Although there is case law on this subject, it is not clear-cut.

In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was cruel and unusual for
states to execute a person who is incapable of understanding what is
happening or why. But in 1990, the high court ruled that it was OK to
forcibly medicate inmates in certain cases, if the treatment is essential
for the defendant's safety or the safety of others.

In 2003, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Arkansas officials
to forcibly administer anti-psychotic medication to control an inmate's
behavior, which, in turn, made him competent enough to execute.

The Supreme Court has not gotten involved in the constitutionality of
medicating Death Row inmates to make them competent to be executed.

Richard Dieter, executive director of Death Penalty Information Center in
Washington, said that he isn't sure why the Supreme Court hasn't weighed
in on the issue but that it doesn't arise often.

Whether the high court will look at Staley's case remains to be seen, but
the legal community will be following the case closely.

"It will be watched by the other states and by the Supreme Court," Dieter
said. "It's significant because it is an unresolved issue."

(source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

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Suspect in Lavaca County killings nabbed in N. Texas


The hunt for a man wanted in a triple slaying in Lavaca County ended near
Dallas on Tuesday, when the 19-year-old Converse native was spotted
walking down the street and was arrested, sheriff's officials said.

Lavaca County authorities learned around 1 p.m. that Ronald Wayne Spencer
Jr. had been captured, according to Investigator Eddie Vaccaro. The exact
location of his arrest was unclear.

A capital murder arrest warrant was issued for Spencer over the weekend
after officials on Friday discovered the bodies of Darrin James Conniff,
40; his wife, Gina Sue Conniff, 41; and son Christopher James Conniff, 19,
in their Hallettsville home.

Hallettsville is about 118 miles east of San Antonio off U.S. 77.

Sheriff's officials were en route to pick up Spencer and bring him back to
Lavaca County Jail in Hallettsville on Tuesday night, Vaccaro said.

Police also recovered a Pontiac Grand Am they said belonged to the victims
and was taken from their home, the investigator said.

Spencer had been living with the family for about a month before their
bodies were found, each shot in the head.

Spencer, who at one time attended Judson High School with Christopher
James Conniff, had been seen in Converse last week.

"Everybody I can talk to is shocked over it," said Converse Lt. Allen
James, remembering Spencer volunteering at the local library.

The last time the lieutenant talked to him, Spencer was reporting that
someone had stolen his bike. Police recovered it.

His arrest capped days of confusion over the Conniffs' deaths, a family
that also once made their home in Converse, less than a mile from where
Spencer lived.

"Chris was a sweetheart," said Rachel Lochte, 18, the Conniffs' longtime
neighbor who spent years playing video games at their home until they
moved away 2 years ago. "He was a nice guy, really funny."

Lochte also recalled a teenage Spencer, nicknamed Sushi, who rode the bus
with her to school and had recently begun to keep to himself.

"He changed," she said.

(source: San Antonio Express-News)

**********************

Charges upgraded in death of baby----Bail is $1 million for suspect after
evidence of earlier severe abuse found


After telling his girlfriend that he'd like to spend some time alone with
her baby, Pete Marin III got his wish.

Less than half an hour later, police say, the 10-month-old boy was dying
after a horrific beating.

Marin, 32, remained in the Fort Bend County Jail on Tuesday after being
indicted on a capital murder charge in the death of Jake Horrocks. He had
been arrested last month and charged with injury to a child, but a grand
jury upgraded the charge Monday and bail was set at $1 million.

In addition to the massive injuries that caused the child's death on Feb.
24, police say doctors found recent and older injuries indicating the boy
had endured severe abuse.

Jake's mother, Jennifer Horrocks, told police she allowed Marin to sit in
his pickup with her son outside her Needville home after Marin asked for
some time with the boy. She said she went inside and left them together
for no more than 20 minutes.

After hearing a noise "like a car door," and then a louder noise, Horrocks
went back outside, police said in the arrest warrant affidavit.

"When she opened the door, she encountered Pete Marin holding Jake, who
was totally limp," the document states.

Skull fracture

The child's injuries were consistent with the kind of trauma suffered in
fatal, head-on auto collisions, doctors told police. According to court
documents, the baby had a severe skull fracture and internal bleeding on
the right side of his head.

Needville police said Marin told the mother the baby was choking on his
own mucus. Horrocks called 911 and the baby was taken to a Richmond
hospital, then to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

Doctors there described to police a list of injuries, old and new, that
they had found in examining the child.

"Jake Horrocks suffered skull fractures, traumatic brain injury with lack
of oxygen, old healing fractures of the 8th and 9th ribs, bruises over
trunk and left hip, retinal hemorrhages and 3 viruses," police wrote.

Doctors said X-rays also revealed the boy had a recent fracture of the
right lower leg.

Police said Marin told them he had been sitting in the truck with Jake
when the baby started gasping. He said he took him back to the house and
told Horrocks the boy was choking.

Police arrested Marin in March and he was charged with injury to a child,
but the grand jury chose to upgrade the case to capital murder after
reviewing all of the evidence, said Fort Bend County District Attorney
John Healey.

State law allows for capital punishment in murder cases in which the
victim is 6 years old or younger. Healey said prosecutors haven't decided
whether to seek a death sentence.

Child Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said the agency had no
previous contact with the family. She said Horrocks' 8-year-old daughter
has been placed temporarily in the care of her father.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

*******************

Suspect in S. Texas murders arrested in Richardson


A 19-year-old man wanted for killing 3 members of a South Texas family was
arrested Tuesday while walking near Central Expressway in Richardson.


Ronald Spencer Police arrested Ronald Wayne Spencer Jr. at 10:30 a.m.
after someone called to report a suspicious person walking and crouching
in the bushes in the 700 block of West Spring Valley Road.

The arrest came after police on Friday found the bodies of Darrin Conniff,
40, his wife, Gina Conniff, 41, and their son, Christopher Conniff, 19, in
their home just east of Hallettsville, halfway between Houston and San
Antonio. They had been shot in the head several days earlier, police
believe.

Investigators found Mr. Spencers vehicle parked at the familys home, and
the familys car missing.

On Tuesday, a few hours after Mr. Spencer was arrested, police located the
familys car at a Dallas gas station on Lemmon Avenue, said Lavaca County
sheriff Micah Harmon.

"He went to San Antonio first, and got on [Interstate] 35 and headed on up
towards Dallas," Sheriff Harmon said, adding that the suspect had no
connection to North Texas. "He was just headed north."

Mr. Spencer, who attended the same South Texas high school as Christopher,
had been living with the Conniffs while he looked for work, the sheriff
said.

The Texas Rangers, who were assisting in the case, picked Mr. Spencer up
from the Richardson jail and took him back to Lavaca County Tuesday night.

(source: Dallas Morning News)