[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., S.C., N.H.

[Rick Halperin]

April 29


TEXAS:

Man set to be 17th exonerated by DNA in Dallas County


Illegally withheld evidence probably caused a man who will be exonerated
today to spend more time behind bars than anyone in the country cleared by
DNA, the Dallas County district attorney's office and the Innocence
Project of Texas said Monday.

James Lee Woodard is expected to be released today by state District Judge
Mark Stoltz and become the 17th man exonerated by DNA in Dallas County,
which has more DNA exonerations than any other county in the nation.

Mr. Woodard, 55, was sentenced to life in prison in 1981 for the
strangulation and rape of his 21-year-old girlfriend, Beverly Ann Jones.

But information that Ms. Jones was with 3 men  including two later
convicted of unrelated sexual assaults  around the time of her death was
not disclosed to the defense nor was it thoroughly investigated, said
prosecutor Mike Ware, who oversees the Dallas County district attorney's
office conviction integrity unit.

Evidence that could benefit a defendant is required by law to be turned
over to a defendant, though there is no criminal punishment for not doing
so.

Mr. Ware said Mr. Woodard received a "fundamentally unfair" trial. He said
he believes the evidence is something that prosecutors at the time should
have investigated, "or at least turn it over so the defense could
investigate."

Before the district attorney's office agreed that the DNA that exonerated
Mr. Woodard of the rape also exonerated him of the murder  in itself an
unusual step  a forensic pathologist examined the file and concluded that
Ms. Jones was killed about the same time she was raped.

Her body was found New Year's Eve 1980 near the Trinity River in a wooded
area near South Loop 12. The night Ms. Jones was killed, she was with
Theodore Blaylock, who was convicted of an aggravated rape committed three
weeks after Ms. Jones' death, according to Mr. Ware and testimony from a
1981 post-conviction hearing.

Mr. Blaylock testified at the hearing that he was drinking with Ms. Jones,
Edward Mosley and Eddie Woodard, who is not related to James Lee Woodard,
one morning in late December 1980.

Mr. Blaylock said he and Mr. Mosley went with Ms. Jones to a South Dallas
convenience store where Ms. Jones left and got in another car with three
other men. Mr. Blaylock could not provide descriptions.

In 1982, Mr. Blaylock was shot and killed when he tried to rape another
woman in her car. She pulled a gun from under the seat and shot him
several times, Mr. Ware said.

Eddie Woodard is now a registered sex offender involved in a brutal sexual
assault, who the district attorney's office said has absconded from
probation. Mr. Mosley's whereabouts were unclear late Monday.

Prosecutors want to compare DNA from the men to the genetic evidence from
the rape to find the true culprit.

James Lee Woodard was seeking a new trial at the 1981 hearing, alleging
that prosecutors did not fully disclose information about Ms. Jones'
whereabouts the night she was killed. The judge, John Ovard, who was also
the trial judge, denied the new trial and formally sentenced him.

The judge and the district attorney's office could have righted Mr.
Woodard's wrongful conviction in 1981, just months later, said Natalie
Roetzel, executive director of the Innocence Project of Texas.

"It's one of the most disturbing things about this case," she said.
"Essentially, that was ignored because the investigators had the suspect
they wanted."

Also, a prosecution witness changed his testimony since the Innocence
Project of Texas, a nonprofit independent legal clinic, began
investigating Mr. Woodard's conviction. Ms. Jones' stepfather testified
that on the night she was killed, Mr. Woodard came to the apartment in the
middle of the night looking for her.

Oscar Edwards now says he believes Mr. Woodard was not the person who came
to his door and did not kill his daughter, Mr. Ware said.

Mr. Woodard, who has a record for nonviolent crimes, is the second man
cleared by DNA during a review of 350 defendants' requests for DNA tests
that were denied under previous District Attorney Bill Hill.

Like many in Dallas County exonerated by DNA, Mr. Woodard was convicted
during the era of District Attorney Henry Wade. Current District Attorney
Craig Watkins has repeatedly said he believes that during this time,
prosecutors were more focused on convictions than justice.

In several handwritten letters, Mr. Woodard begged Mr. Wade to
reinvestigate his case and always maintained his innocence. He said that
his letters were always answered by a prosecutor saying nothing could be
done because a jury convicted him.

In a March 1985 letter, Mr. Woodard wrote to Mr. Wade: "If you found out
for yourself that I was innocent, would you let me go?"

(source: Dallas Morning News)






FLORIDA:

Lawyer: Death row inmate killed himself


A former librarian sentenced to death for the murder of his ex-girlfriend
killed himself on death row in Florida, his lawyer said Tuesday.

William Coday, 51, was found dead in his cell Monday at the state prison
in Raiford, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

The Florida Department of Corrections would say only that the death is
under investigation. But lawyer George Reres said that Coday bled to death
after cutting himself.

Coday was convicted of killing Gloria Gomez in 1997 after she broke up
with him. She was savagely beaten with 2 hammers and stabbed.

In the 1970s, Coday served 15 months in Germany for a similar killing. His
lawyer in that case used an insanity defense.

Coday met Gomez at the Broward County Library, where he was a foreign
languages librarian. After she ended the relationship, he lured her to his
apartment by claiming to have terminal cancer and attacked her.

Reres said that Coday had a history of suicide attempts.

"He did have a death wish," the lawyer said.

(source: United Press International)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Upstate man could face death penalty----19-year-old is charged with
killing 4 family members in Easley


A 19-year-old man charged with killing 4 of his family members could face
the death penalty, the prosecutor handling the case said Monday.

"Of course, I still want to talk with family members before" making a
final decision, said prosecutor Chrissy Adams, whose district includes
Anderson County.

Nathan Dickson was arrested Saturday night, about 12 hours after his
father, stepmother, stepsister and younger brother were gunned down in
their Easley home.

The case qualifies for the death penalty because at least 2 people were
killed, Adams said Monday.

A shotgun was used to kill the victims, according to autopsy results
released Monday.

The father, 46-year-old Samuel Dickson, and brother, 14-year-old Taylor
Dickson, were shot more than once. Stepmother Martiza Dickson, 46, and
stepsister Melissa Salazar, 19, each were shot once, Anderson County
Deputy Coroner Don McCown said.

3 victims were shot inside the home, while Samuel Dickson was shot
outside, McCown said.

Samuel Dickson was dressed as if he had been doing yardwork. A cell phone
was found beside his body, and McKown said he planned to check records to
see whether he tried to call 911.

Dickson is charged with four counts of murder. He is the lone suspect in
the case, and more charges could be filed against him. But it could be
several days before that determination is made, Anderson County sheriffs
spokeswoman Susann Griffin said Monday.

Dickson is at the county jail awaiting a bail hearing.

Counselors were on hand Monday at Wren Middle School, where Taylor Dickson
was a student. Several of his classmates wore white T-shirts with
handwritten messages in his honor.

Principal Robin Fulbright said Taylor would light up any room and that his
smiles and jokes will be greatly missed.

(source: Associated Press)






NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Senate likely to nix death penalty expansion


A proposal to expand the state's death penalty law to make killing Family
Court judges and court security officers a capital offense will likely be
nixed by its sponsors because of a last-minute change to the bill.

Sen. Bob Letourneau, R-Derry, said he plans to ask the Senate to get rid
of the bill next week because of an amendment calling for a study of
whether capital punishment is legal or fair. The amendment was proposed by
Rep. Lori Movsesian, D-Nashua, a death penalty opponent who sought a
compromise among lawmakers to delay passing the bill into law.

It's the latest in a tit for tat expected to play out in the Statehouse as
New Hampshire draws closer to its first two capital murder trials in
decades.

Attorney General Kelly Ayotte told lawmakers last week she opposed the
study committee, saying it was the wrong time to question capital
punishment since prosecutors are well underway with the 2 cases.

Millionaire businessman John "Jay" Brooks, 55, of Las Vegas is scheduled
to go to trial in August on charges of a murder-for-hire plot to kill
Derry resident Jack Reid in June 2005. It will be followed in September
with the trial of Michael Addison, 28, who is charged with the fatal
shooting of Manchester police Officer Michael Briggs in October 2006.

Letourneau said yesterday he agrees with Ayotte. He views the amendment as
a way to make the bill a referendum on the legality of the death penalty.

"All of the questions they want answered by the study committee are the
same ones filed by attorneys representing Michael Addison," Letourneau
said. "Do we really want to have that debate all summer while these trials
are going on?"

Rep. William Knowles, D-Dover, said even if the latest version of the bill
passed, it would have no effect on the death penalty cases now pending in
court.

"It's the wrong time with the two capital murder trials in the works,"
said Knowles, chairman of the House's Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Committee. "I told members of the Senate, if they couldn't pass the 1st
part of the bill, then they should just kill it."

Knowles said the amendment was proposed during an executive session of the
committee. It has since passed the House. Letourneau said he will ask the
Senate to find the bill inexpedient to legislate early next week.

Some supporters described the bill as not an expansion of the death
penalty, rather, a clarification of provisions already on the books. New
Hampshire makes killing a police officer or judicial official punishable
by death, but the law doesn't specifically mention bailiffs, court
security officers and Family Court judges.

The original bill also called for the same punishment against those who
killed investigators working for either county attorneys or consumer
protection investigators.

Movsesian said she sees the bill as nothing short of an expansion of
capital murder.

Had she known the Senate might trump her call for a study, Movsesian said,
she would have tried to kill the bill earlier. She expects she or other
death penalty opponents to file a bill later this year requesting a
similar study.

Lawmakers sent another bill to a study committee earlier this year that
would have expanded capital murder to include people convicted of killing
2 or more people at once. Since 1996, there have been 18 homicide cases
involving multiple victims.

Death penalty opponents are expected to file legislation in 2009,
proposing to repeal capital punishment. They are prohibited from filing
such a bill this year because a similar measure was defeated last year.
House rules bar lawmakers from filing failed bills in consecutive
sessions.

New Hampshire's last execution was by hanging nearly 70 years ago.

(source: The Eagle-Tribune)