[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 17



TEXAS----new execution date

Execution date set for S.A. gang member


A San Antonio gang member sent to death row for gunning down 2 people
outside a bar more than 14 years ago had his execution date set Friday for
January 21.

Frank Moore, 49, lost a federal court appeal in July. He was tried twice
for the 1994 slayings of Samuel Boyd, 23, who was shot 6 times with a
rifle, and Patrick Clark, 15, who was shot 5 times. Evidence showed both
victims were shot while they were sitting in a car outside the Wheels of
Joy Club.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals threw out his conviction in 1998
because jurors were not allowed to consider lesser charges of voluntary
manslaughter and murder. Bexar County prosecutors retried Moore the
following year and a jury convicted him of capital murder and again
sentenced him to die.

It's that conviction and sentence the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
upheld by refusing to grant what's known as a certificate of
appealability, which would allow Moore's appeals to move forward.

(source: San Antonio Express-News)






ALABAMA:

Hearing will air claims by death row inmate


A Jefferson County judge will hear claims by death row inmate Tommy
Douglas Arthur that a confession by another inmate and crime scene DNA
evidence will prove he is innocent of 1982 homicide.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Pulliam has scheduled an initial
hearing at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 17 to hear a petition by Arthur's attorney to
look at post-conviction issues, a spokeswoman in Pulliams office said
Thursday.

Arthur's attorney, Suhana Han, asked Pulliam to consider a sworn
confession by another inmate in connection with the same slaying Arthur
was convicted of three times and sentenced to death.

Han also wants to persuade Pulliam to order DNA testing of all existing
evidence in the death of Troy Wicker. The Muscle Shoals businessman was
killed at his home while he slept.

2 of Arthur's convictions were overturned on appeal. Arthur has maintained
his innocence.

Wicker's wife, Judy, testified that she hired Arthur to kill her husband.
She initially said she was beaten and raped by another man, but later
confessed to hiring Arthur to kill her husband in her presence.

Arthur was convicted on circumstantial evidence that included Judy
Wicker's testimony. Wicker served 10 years in prison for being an
accomplice in her husbands death and was released.

Arthur has escaped execution 3 times, the most recent on July 30 when the
Alabama Supreme Court stayed the execution after Han produced a sworn
statement from inmate Bobby Gilbert, who is serving a sentence of life in
prison without the possibility of parole.

Gilbert said he killed Wicker but Attorney General Troy King said Gilbert
is lying. King also said the law is being manipulated in favor of Arthur,
who has frustrated the state's attempts to carry out his death sentence.

"The Alabama Supreme Court granted a stay after the defense presented an
affidavit from a prisoner who has no credibility," assistant Attorney
General Clay Crenshaw said Thursday.

Han could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Pulliam inherited the Arthur case because she took over the position of
the former judge who presided over Arthur's initial trial nearly 20 years
ago.

(source: Tuscaloosa News)