Nov. 22
TEXAS:
In Texas, Prosecutors Add Twitter Insult to Capital Punishment----A few hours
after the state once again turned its back on death row inmate Duane Buck,
prosecutors accused his lawyers of unprofessional conduct.
Twice, as we've recounted here at The Atlantic, Texas has deprived convicted
murderer Duane Buck of his constitutional right to equal protection. The first
time came in 1997 when a now-notorious expert unlawfully told jurors under
prosecution questioning that Buck would be more dangerous in the future because
he was black. "Future danger" was an "aggravating" factor Buck's jury had to
consider in imposing the death penalty on him, which those jurors quickly did
after that explosive testimony.
The 2nd time the law failed Buck came in 2000, when each of the 5 other men
whose capital trials were similarly tainted by that "expert" testimony were
given new sentencing hearings. Even though Texas appropriately conceded that
mistakes had been made in all of those original trials, Buck alone was blocked
from getting that new sentencing trial because, Texas officials said, it was
his witness who had introduced the improper testimony (even though prosecutors
had elicited it). Inexplicably, Texas did not make this same assertion in the
case of 2 other men who used this expert as a defense witness; they were each
given new sentencing trials.
For the past 13 years, over and over again in many different venues, Buck and
his attorneys have tried to square that disparate treatment with constitutional
commands - and with state and federal procedural hurdles designed to make it
harder for defendants like Buck to get help. In 2011, Buck came within hours of
execution when the United States Supreme Court halted the process (though the
justices in Washington refused to review the substance of his case at that
time). Buck then filed another appeal in Texas and on Wednesday, the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals, by a vote of 6-3, ended that review.
The 6 judges on the Texas court who voted against Buck, including the infamous
Justice Sharon Keller, were unwilling to address his claims on the merits - and
were unwilling even to put their names behind what they had done. Instead, in a
brief, unsigned opinion void of any substantive analysis, they wrote: "We
dismiss the application as an abuse of the writ without considering the merits
of the claims." Duane Buck ought to be executed regardless of whether there are
inequalities in his case, these justices concluded, because Texas procedures
bar his claims.
The 3 justices who dissented, however, had a great deal to say about why Duane
Buck deserves more from the Texas courts. In a lengthy and detailed analysis,
they offered this to start:
The record in this case reveals a chronicle of inadequate representation at
every stage of the proceedings, the integrity of which is further called into
question by the admission of racist and inflammatory testimony from an expert
witness at the punishment phase.
... and went on from there. In the view of the dissenters, Duane Buck deserves
a review of the substance of his claims regardless of any procedural
deficiencies that may exist in his case. Such a review, they suggest, would
likely result in his sentence being reduced to life in prison without parole
because of the many mitigating factors present in his case. Once again, the
justices in Washington will be asked to intercede on his behalf. Once again,
the Supreme Court will have an opportunity, at least, to rectify a manifest
injustice.
But none of that is the necessarily galling stuff. By now, America is used to
this brand of justice in Texas, where black capital defendants still are
routinely treated in fashions that beggar belief. After all, the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals, the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas,
is populated by judges who campaign like politicians promising their
constituents that they will aggressively endorse capital punishment.
No, what is particularly galling here is that just a few hours after the court
issued its ruling against Buck, just a few hours after the state again stamped
its approval for this patently unconstitutional result, Texas prosecutors got
into a silly Twitter spat with his lawyers, accusing them of unprofessional
conduct:
There has indeed been a great deal of unprofessional conduct in the Duane Buck
case. It started with that now-discredited expert and, as the dissent says,
terrible defense work at trial and on the initial appeal of Buck's conviction.
It continued years later with a broken promise by Texas officials to Buck that,
like the others similarly situated, he would get a new sentencing hearing void
of unlawful racial undertones. And it continues to this day in the effort by
state attorneys, and these six judges, to diminish the import of what happened
to Buck by precluding even a review of his case on its merits.
This man - this indigent black man in Texas with a low IQ who received
inadequate assistance of counsel and whose trial was rocked by racial prejudice
- deserves a new sentencing hearing. If Texas had given him one in 2000, this
case would be long over (the 5 other men tainted by that "expert" were
re-sentenced to death). It's not only unprofessional, it's unjust that Texas is
fighting so hard to prevent that new sentencing trial from taking place. And
I'd be willing to bet that at least a few justices in Washington agree.
(source: Andrew Cohen, The Atlantic Magazine)
*********************
Death penalty comparable to Nazi genocide? Officials debate issue at AC event
Students and community members filled the auditorium of the Amarillo College
Downtown Campus as 2 local legal experts debated Thursday night whether the
death penalty should be abolished.
Selden Hale III, a part-time AC instructor and former chairman of the Texas
Board of Criminal Justice with multiple years of experience as a criminal
defense attorney, and Potter County District Attorney Randall Sims debated and
then answered questions from the audience.
The debate, sponsored by the Legal Society of Amarillo College, was moderated
by assistant professor of speech and mass communication Jill Gibson.
Hale voiced his support of abolishment, then Sims countered in support of
keeping the death penalty. Hale provided information on the history of violence
and corporal punishment in Texas, and spoke of the hundreds who have lost their
lives in Texas by both legal and illegal executions.
"The one thing that I can do is act as a history teacher and convey to you the
roots of the death penalty," said Hale. "I think it's important that we
understand how Texas began to use the death penalty more than any other state
in the nation with more mistakes in it's enforcement."
Focusing on individuals who have been erroneously imprisoned or executed, Hale
discussed problems present in the judicial system, citing issues such as
corruption, ineptitude and false testimony.
He also likened the justification of using the death penalty to a smaller-scale
version of the justification used by the Nazis that resulted in the deaths of
approximately 6 million Jews.
"It's just as evil to do it one inmate at a time," said Hale.
Sims was quick to counter the argument.
"There is no genocide happening in the United States of America; there is a due
process given to each individual," he said.
Sims said that while there are instances of corruption in the system, there are
many more who are transparent in their policies and investigations.
The death penalty is a crucial deterrent that must be present to keep a moral
society and violent crime at a minimum, said Sims, adding that the usage of
corporal punishment in the Bible is an example of the effectiveness of the
death penalty.
"A modern society that outlaws the death penalty does not send a message of
reverence for life, but a message of moral confusion," said Sims, quoting
conservative pundit Patrick J. Buchanan. "When we outlaw the death penalty, we
tell every murderer that no matter what they may do to innocent people, that
his life is secure and we guarantee that in advance."
Questions from the audience varied from the cost of imprisonment versus the
cost of execution to prosecutorial misconduct.
During the question-and-answer portion, laughter and applause echoed through
the hall after Hale's response to an attendee's question about how he would
solve the crisis of over-population that would result due to the lack of a
death penalty.
"I don't anticipate that the numbers will ever be a problem, especially since
we have the largest prison system in the free world," said Hale. "Probably 40 %
of the people in prison are there for dope; if you want to save money, legalize
marijuana."
Rose Hall, of Amarillo, said while both debaters had good arguments, she felt
Hale had better points.
"I don't believe in putting anyone to death," said Hall.
Dustin Ward, also of Amarillo, said he felt though Hale and Sims had very
different opinions, they each conveyed their side with professionalism.
"I think these kinds of debates are very important to help educate an audience
from different perspectives," Ward said.
Gibson said the debate was the 2nd in a series hosted by the society. The 1st
debate, regarding the legalization of marijuana, was held during the spring
2013 semester and included local criminal defense lawyer Jeff Blackburn arguing
for and Randall County Criminal District Attorney James Farren arguing against
legalization of marijuana.
(source: amarillo.com)
***************
Death penalty sought in double slaying
A West Texas man accused in the fatal shooting of his estranged wife and her
brother could face execution if convicted.
The San Angelo Standard-Times reports prosecutor Allison Palmer this week filed
her intent to seek the death penalty against Brian Berry.
Berry was caught in Andrews after the bodies of Keri Berry and Brandon Block of
San Angelo were found July 28 at her home in Wall. Block's wife was critically
hurt.
Tom Green County jail records show Berry was being held on charges of capital
murder of multiple persons and attempted murder. An attorney for Berry declined
to comment Thursday.
Berry's mother, Anita Berry, faces allegations of helping him flee. She's free
on bond after being charged with hindering apprehension.
(source: Associaetd Press)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Michael Ballard death sentences upheld by state Supreme Court
The state Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences Michael Eric Ballard
received for massacring four people in a Northampton home while on parole for a
prior murder.
In an opinion issued Thursday, Chief Justice Ronald Castille said the evidence
against Ballard was overwhelming, with "no basis upon which to upset the death
verdict."
The appeal represented the first of many that Ballard is expected to pursue
after being sentenced to die in 2011 for mass murder.
Ballard stabbed to death his former girlfriend Denise Merhi, 39; her father,
Dennis Marsh, 62; her grandfather, Alvin Marsh Jr., 87; and Steven Zernhelt,
53, a neighbor who heard screams at their 1917 Lincoln Ave. home and tried to
help.
At the death-penalty trial, Northampton County District Attorney John
Morganelli called the June 26, 2010, murders a "slaughter," a "rampage" and a
"massacre." He told jurors that if the case against Ballard, who had killed
before, didn't warrant the ultimate punishment then none did.
Chief Public Defender Michael Corriere argued to the jury that Ballard's rough
childhood, brain damage and overbearing jealously helped cause him to "snap."
Because Ballard pleaded guilty before trial to the four killings, the panel
only had to decide whether he deserved to be executed or spend the rest of his
life in prison.
Corriere's appeal to the Supreme Court challenged the verdict on a host of
grounds - from whether Judge Edward Smith improperly allowed autopsy and crime
scene photos of Ballard's victims to be shown the jury, to whether Morganelli
improperly cross-examined defense experts who concluded the defendant was brain
damaged.
At the time of the slayings, Ballard had recently been paroled on a 15- to
30-year sentence for stabbing and slitting the throat of an Allentown man in
1991.
The capital verdict was the county's 1st in nearly 25 years. Ballard, 40, is
now an inmate at Greene State Prison, which holds Pennsylvania's largest death
row.
Under Pennsylvania law, a death sentence is automatically appealed to the
state's highest court, the start of a lengthy legal challenges that have led to
no inmates being executed against their will since John F. Kennedy was
president.
If prisoners are unsuccessful in their direct appeals, they next turn to
post-conviction relief proceedings in which they can question whether their
attorneys effectively represented them. If those challenges fail, they can go
to the federal courts and argue constitutional violations.
In an interview in prison with The Morning Call after his death sentence,
Ballard said he intended to fight it. He said he won't be a volunteer who
waives his appeals and requests his own execution ??? as was done by three
inmates who were executed in the 1990s.
"I don't have a death wish. That still stands," Ballard said in June 2011. "I
don't view myself as so worthless that I need to check out."
(source: Morning Call)
*****************
Killer's trial unfair, lawyers say
The lawyers for convicted killer Ricky Smyrnes said in court on Thursday he
should be excused from death row because he was not given a fair chance to
defend himself during his trial.
Defense attorneys Mike DeRiso and Terrance Faye said prosecutors failed to
disclose evidence that would have helped Smyrnes convince jurors that another
man was the ringleader of a group of 6 Greensburg roommates who tortured and
killed a mentally disabled woman nearly four years ago.
Smyrnes and his lawyers were in court to appeal his 1st-degree murder
conviction and the death sentence imposed by jurors following his February
trial.
Smyrnes' defense team wanted jurors to hear that Melvin Knight was most
responsible for the February 2010 slaying of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty.
Smyrnes, 27, and Knight, 24, were sentenced to death by separate juries for
their roles in the killing.
Both claimed that the other ordered the roommates to hold Daugherty captive for
more than 2 days and directed the torture, beatings and the eventual fatal
stabbing.
Smyrnes' lawyers said they were never told about a videotape played for jurors
during Knight's sentencing trial in August 2012 that showed the defendant
fighting with jail guards two years after Daugherty was killed.
Smyrnes' defense at trial was that he participated in the attack on Daugherty
because he was under duress from Knight.
"The tape could have been used to show who Mr. Knight was and how Mr. Smyrnes
succumbed to Mr. Knight," DeRiso said.
District Attorney John Peck said the tape was not relevant to Smyrnes.
"It doesn't show Mr. Smyrnes was present or was aware of what happened," Peck
said.
The videotape was one of 41 issues raised by the defense in Smyrnes' appeal.
Westmoreland County Judge Rita Hathaway said she would rule on the appeal as
well as the lawyers' request to withdraw from the case.
DeRiso and Faye said other lawyers should be appointed to defend Smyrnes in his
appeal.
"In order to protect the defendant, he needs a fresh set of eyes," Faye said.
A 3rd roommate, Angela Marinucci, 21, was convicted of 1st-degree murder and is
awaiting a resentencing hearing under a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Ineligible
for the death penalty because she was 17 at the time of her arrest, she was
sentenced to serve life in prison without parole.
The cases against Amber Meidinger, 23; Peggy Miller, 30; and Robert Masters,
39, are pending.
The prosecution is seeking the death penalty against Meidinger, who testified
against Marinucci, Knight and Smyrnes at their trials.
Meidinger, Miller and Masters are scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 5, when
they could agree to plead guilty to murder charges.
(source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
FLORIDA----brief stay of impending execution
Supreme Court delays execution amid questions about new drug
In a 5-2 decision, the Florida Supreme Court on Monday ordered that Thomas
Knight's scheduled execution be delayed so he can argue that a new drug used to
sedate a prisoner at the start of the lethal injection process could subject
him to "serious harm." Knight, also known as Askari Abdullah Muhammad, had been
scheduled to die at Florida State Prison on Dec. 3.
Florida is the only state in the U.S. that uses midazolam hydrochloride as an
anesthetic in the 1st stage of a 3-drug lethal injection mixture. The new drug
replaced pentobarbital after the state Department of Corrections exhausted its
supply.
The state's high court stayed Knight's execution until at least Dec. 27 and
sent his case back to the state's Eighth Judicial Circuit, which includes
Bradford County, where he is imprisoned. A circuit court judge must hold a
hearing on the inmate's claims and issue a ruling no later than 2 p.m. Nov. 26,
2 days before Thanksgiving, after which time both sides can file additional
arguments.
Knight has been on death row since 1975 for the murders of a Miami couple.
While in prison he stabbed a correctional officer, Richard Burke, to death. It
is that killing for which he is condemned to die.
In its order, the court said: "The Court has determined that Muhammad's claim
as to the use of midazolam hydrochloride as an anesthetic in the amount
prescribed by Florida's protocol warrants an evidentiary hearing. We conclude
based on the allegations in Muhammad's 3.851 motion that he has raised a
factual dispute, not conclusively refuted, as to whether the use of midazolam
hydrochloride in Florida's lethal injection protocol will subject him to a
'substantial risk of serious harm.'
"We further direct the DOC (Department of Corrections) to produce
correspondence and documents it has received from the manufacturer of midazolam
hydrochloride concerning the drug's use in executions or otherwise, including
those addressing any safety and efficacy issues," the court ordered.
Justices Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis, Peggy Quince, Jorge Labarga and James
Perry were in the majority. Chief Justice Ricky Polston and Justice Charles
Canady dissented.
(source: Tampa Bay Times)
*********************
3 years since Saddle Creek Run murders
Wednesday marks the 3rd anniversary of what some would describe to be one of
the most gruesome crimes in recent memory in Tallahassee.
On November 20, 2011 Tallahassee Police were called out to this single-story
home at 908 Saddle Creek Run.
Inside, investigators found the bodies of Brandi Peters, 27, and her 3 young
children: Twin 6-year-old girls Tamiyah and Taniyah, and their 3-year-old
brother Javante Segura.
The crime is believed to be so gruesome that few details have ever been offered
by investigators. Most of the court documents have been sealed.
Javante's father, Henry Segura, is facing the death penalty as he awaits trial.
He's charged with four counts of First Degree Murder.
It wasn't until 10 months after the murder that Segura was eventually arrested
in Le Sueru County, Minnesota. That's where Tallahassee investigators say
Segura feld to after murdering the family of 4.
At the time of the murder, Peters was a single, stay-at-home mother.
Ciesly Timmons lived next to Peters. Just days after the murder in 2011 she
told WTXL that she was devastated by the loss of who she considered a good
friend.
"(Brandi) was a sweet person, she loved her kids," Timmons said in November of
2011. "She was my friend, we were together almost every day, I mean she was
just a sweet person, nice."
Segura has a case mangement hearing scheduled for December 2013.
(source: WTXL news)
********************
Fla. Supreme Court upholds Joel Diaz murder conviction, death penalty
The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction and death sentence
of a Lee County man in the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend's father.
The justices on Thursday rejected several claims by Joel Diaz, including that
he is mentally disabled and he had ineffective assistance of counsel.
The 40-year-old Diaz was condemned to die for the 1998 shooting death of
Charles Shaw, father of his former girlfriend Lissa Shaw. Lissa Shaw was also
shot twice by Diaz but survived the attack by driving away from the Shaw home
as he fired at her.
Diaz was also convicted of attempted murder and aggravated assault. He has been
on death row since 2001.
(source: Associated Press)
ALABAMA:
Special Report: Secrets in Sylacauga----In 1988, Billy Kuenzel was convicted by
a jury and sentenced to death for the shooting death of Linda Jean Offord.
The Case
In 1988, Billy Kuenzel was convicted by a jury and sentenced to death for the
shooting death of Linda Jean Offord the previous year. Talladega County
District Attorney Robert Rumsey told the jury that testimony from 2 key
witnesses placed Kuenzel at the scene of the crime, a convenience store in
Sylacauga.
The prosecution's star witness was Harvey Venn, who was Keunzel's coworker and
roommate at the time. He told the jury that it was Kuenzel's idea to rob the
well-known convenience store located at "The Forks," an intersection just south
of Downtown Sylacauga.
Venn took a plea bargain from Rumsey in return for his testimony at trial. Venn
agreed to spend the next 10 years in a state prison for admitting that he was
an accomplice in the murder of Offord.
Alabama law requires corroborating evidence when an accomplice is involved in a
crime. In this case, the prosecution relied on the testimony of April Harris, a
16-year-old girl who was driving by at the time of the murder on the night of
Nov. 9, 1987.
Harris told the jury that she positively identified Venn and Kuenzel inside the
convenience store around the time of the murder.
The most crucial physical evidence surrounding the murder was a pair of
blood-stained pants and the murder weapon -- a 16-gauge shotgun.
Venn described a robbery that went wrong with Kunezel. He maintained that it
was his roommate's idea to rob the store as a way to "make some easy money."
Venn said that Kuenzel fired the shotgun at point-blank range, fatally wounding
Offord. The blood of the victim ended up on Venn's pants.
The DA, Robert Rumsey, admitted to the jury that the only evidence that linked
Kuenzel to the crime was circumstantial. He said the lack of physical evidence
didn't mean that he was innocent.
Kuenzel denied any involvement in the crime and provided an alibi that he was
at home sleeping around the time of the murder. He used his stepfather to
corroborate his story who said that he went to his stepson's house to fix a
toilet that evening and when he arrived he observed Kuenzel sleeping on his
couch.
Rumsey even offered Kuenzel a similar plea bargain to the one offered to Venn
in return for his admission of guilt, but Kuenzel turned it down and opted to
face a capital murder trial.
The trial phase lasted less than 2 days. After an hour and a half of
deliberations by the jury, it returned a guilty verdict and the death penalty
for Kuenzel.
Differing accounts, new evidence & missing evidence
Venn told police several stories in the days that followed the murder regarding
what happened that night. He told authorities that the blood at one point was
red paint, and at another juncture, that it was squirrel blood from hunting
earlier in the day.
April Harris' grand jury testimony was never furnished to Kuenzel's defense
counsel. When she was questioned by prosecutors during the grand jury stage,
she said she "couldn't see a face" when she drove by the store and could only
confirm that "in her best judgment" that the two men were Venn and Kuenzel in
the store.
Police notes of what Harris told them in the days following the crime were also
never provided to defense attorneys.
The main physical evidence in the case, the murder weapon and the blood-stained
pants have gone missing. That's according to defense counsel and the Sylacauga
Police Department.
Another witness, Crystal Floyd, who was interviewed by Rumsey, has never told
her story publicly. She was never called to testify before the jury at trial.
Floyd, who was 13 years old at the time, was the girlfriend of Harvey Venn. Her
story corroborates that Kuenzel wasn't with Venn on the night of the murder.
According to Floyd, Venn visited her twice on the evening on Nov. 9 -- once in
the late afternoon or early evening and the other time after dark.
She contends that Venn was with Kuenzel during the 1st visit but that her
boyfriend was alone for the 2nd visit.
"I told them the second time Harvey had come to my house it was around 10
o'clock," Floyd said. "There were street lights going into his car. There was
no one in there."
In the years following the trial, it was also discovered that Harvey Venn had
in his possession a different 16-gauge shotgun. During the trial, there was a
dispute over whether he possessed a 12 or 16 gauge shotgun. It was determined
that it was a 12 gauge but in fact, he owned a weapon of similar make to the
alleged murder weapon that Kuenzel used.
World renowned attorney comes to Kuenzel's defense; state maintains his guilt
Over the past 20 years all of Kuenzel's appeals have been denied by both state
and federal courts. They have heard some of the new evidence but have rejected
the new claims of innocence on both merits and procedural grounds. In most
cases, however, they have been denied on procedure, because of a late filing by
1 of Kuenzel's appellate attorneys in 1993. He misunderstood a deadline
relating to Kuenzel's case and made a filing 3 months late.
Since that time, some of the country's most well-known criminal defense
attorneys have come to the aid of Kuenzel. The group maintains that Kuenzel not
only didn't receive a fair trial back in 1988, but that he is factually
innocent based on the evidence.
The group is led by longtime New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who
served as the city's top prosecutor for nearly 40 years. He's been joined by
the former district attorneys of Milwaukee, Los Angeles, as well as former U.S.
Attorney for Alabama's Northern District, Doug Jones.
Morgenthau said during an interview about his involvement in the case, "I
thought here's an innocent man who's going to go to his death. We've got to try
to set the record straight."
Morgenthau ran the New York DA's office from 1973 until 2009. During that time,
he prosecuted millions of cases and sent more than 100,000 people to jail or
prison. He was turned on to the death penalty case in Alabama when his late
son-in-law told him about it years ago.
He has deep roots in Alabama. Morgenthau's grandmother was born in Montgomery
and one of his best friends during World War II was from Anniston.
In addition to his Naval service, Morgenthau also served 3 U.S. Presidents as a
United States Attorney in New York.
"I was hired by Kennedy and Johnson," Morgenthau recalls. "And I was fired by
Nixon."
He said he felt an obligation to come to the aid of Kuenzel.
"To say it's a very thin case is an exaggeration," Morgenthau says of the
state's case against Kuenzel. "There's no case."
In Morgenthau's eyes, there is no proof whatsoever that Kuenzel was ever in the
convenience store on the night of the murder, not to mention the fact that
April Harris' grand jury testimony never saw the light of day until 2010 when
it was obtained by Kuenzel's appellate counsel.
"8 people who were in the store who were interviewed by police. Not one of them
said that they saw the defendant Keunzel in the store," Morgenthau said. "And
the accomplice himself said that he was in the store with another man when he
was first interviewed. He never mentioned Keunzel."
On the testimony, Morgenthau says Harris' testimony is highly unreliable and
that the new evidence could have changed the complexion of the case. The state
of Alabama doesn't view the new evidence that way.
"I have no doubt of Kuenzel's guilt," said Clay Crenshaw, who is the Chief of
the Alabama Attorney General's Office Capital Litigation Division.
"None of that evidence has anything to do with Keunzel's guilt or innocence,"
Crenshaw added. "Now some of it could have been used to impeach some witnesses,
but it wouldn't have had any effect on the guilt or innocence of Keunzel. It's
just not evidence that shows he didn't do the crime here."
Crenshaw does admit that Harris did "equivocate a little bit" in her initial
testimony but said she was later "completely confident" that in her best
judgment she saw Venn and Kuenzel in the store.
Crenshaw also points to Kuenzel's behavior after the trial as proof of his
guilt. Kuenzel provided multiple alibis and stories that placed him anywhere
but the scene of the crime.
"If he was innocent he would tell a consistent plausible story of innocence,"
Crenshaw said. "He's a murderer and he's a really bad liar, too."
At trial, Talladega County District Attorney Robert Rumsey told the jury that
there was no physical evidence in the case that directly implicated Kuenzel.
However, during the appeals process, the state points to several pieces of
evidence that they say directly link Kuenzel to the crime.
"There was a burned shotgun shell found at the house that matched the
manufacturer of the wadding that was found in the victim's body and the pellets
of the wadding that matched the manufacturer that were found in the victim's
body. I believe it was a Remington," Crenshaw said.
According to court documents, the wadding and the burned shell did have the
profile of coming from a 16-gauge shotgun; however it's inconclusive whether
the shell came specifically from the murder weapon.
Morgenthau says it's more important to look at the actual facts of the trial,
instead of what happened after the state had already secured a conviction and
the death penalty.
"I would say the weight of the evidence, the overwhelming weight of the
evidence is strongly in favor of an acquittal," Morgenthau said.
Kuenzel's attorneys have what they hope is their final and best shot to get
Kuenzel a new trial, or at the very least a fresh hearing -- something he
hasn't had his entire time on death row. They've filed in Talladega County for
a judge to revisit the jurisdiction of the case and whether the court could
have entertained the case without the newly discovered evidence.
The state is expected to file a motion to dismiss the claims by the Dec. 27
deadline.
(source: WSFA news)
MISSISSIPPI:
Woman shares story of death row pardon
Sabrina Butler remembers July 2, 1990, as she waited in a Mississippi prison to
be taken to the death chamber.
Charged in the murder of her infant son, Butler had been sentenced earlier that
year to die by lethal injection.
Butler, the 59th person to be exonerated of a crime for which a death penalty
was ordered and the only woman, said when her "death day" came, she strained to
hear the sound of the jailers coming for her.
Speaking Wednesday before more than 20 people who gathered in Patridge Campus
Center at Union College, Butler - who is black - talked about the 6 1/2 years
she spent in prison, including the day she thought the jailers would come to
take her to her death. She said she didn't know at the time her execution would
be delayed to allow more legal proceedings to occur.
Butler was joined by Kate Mudd, an intern with the Kentucky Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty. Mudd shared some of the results of an American Bar
Association Symposium that found serious flaws in the operation of the death
penalty in Kentucky. Among the concerns were a high error rate in cases, low
pay for public defenders and confusion by jurors over the instructions they are
given during trials.
Butler was 17 when she found her 9-month-old son, Walter, unresponsive on April
12, 1989.
At the time, Butler had been on her own for years. She left her apartment
carrying her son, pounding on her neighbors' doors until one was opened. A
woman took Walter and began CPR. Butler then found another man to take her and
Walter to the hospital.
Butler didn't know infants shouldn't be given adult CPR. She also didn't know
her son was suffering from a kidney disorder that would prove to be fatal.
At the hospital, Butler learned her son had died. She was allowed to hold him
one last time.
"He just looked like he was asleep," Butler told the crowd, her voice catching.
While she still held the now-still Walter, Butler said hospital officials began
to question her. Soon she was taken to the police station where she underwent
more questioning. She went home but the next day she returned to the hospital
to find a detective who said he would take her back to the police station.
For 3 hours, Butler said she underwent a harsh interrogation by police officers
who screamed at her, saying she had beaten her son to death.
Butler tried to explain her son had been bruised by the CPR, but to no avail.
The police had told her she had the right to remain silent, but she had no idea
she could have asked for an attorney.
Finally, one officer wrote a confession that Butler said she signed.
"I was just ready for them to stop screaming at me," she said. "They scared me
to death."
It would be almost a year before Butler's trial was held - during which time
she turned 18 and was then able to be tried as an adult. She remained jailed
until the March 1990 trial and said she never saw an attorney during that time.
For her trial, Butler said she was represented by 2 attorneys. 1 attorney was
drunk and the other failed to investigate the case, she said.
Advised by her attorneys to remain quiet and to simply look at the jury, Butler
wasn't given the opportunity to testify.
"The district attorney just had a field day with that," Butler said. "I wanted
to testify, but my attorneys wouldn't let me do that."
After the 5-day trial, Butler was found guilty by a panel of mostly white
jurors. Her death sentence was handed down.
"Me being black, poor, no one to help me, I think contributed to the sentence,"
Butler said.
Shackled from waist to feet, Butler was delivered to a correctional facility in
Rankin County. She said she was forced to remove all her clothes so she could
be sprayed with an insecticide.
"They just humiliate you," she said.
Butler was then taken to a 6x9-foot cell, where she spent 23 hours a day. She
said she saw rats in her cell and found ants on her food tray. She was given 10
minutes to shower.
Then, in an unexpected move, Butler said her original attorney - the one who
failed to investigate her case - wrote an appeal on her behalf. That appeal
resulted in a ruling that found that 23 violations and prosecutorial misconduct
occurred in her original trial.
A 2nd trial was held. After four days of testimony and evidence that included a
more complete autopsy report than what was available in her 1st trial, the
matter went before the jury. After an hour's deliberation, Butler was found
innocent on Dec. 17, 1995.
Although she had been exonerated in her son's murder, the record of the charge
- when combined with a prior charge of accessory to burglary that Butler said
happened when an abusive boyfriend forced her to forge stolen checks - left her
jobless from 1995 to 2009. In June 2012, Butler said she began to receive
checks from the state of Mississippi due to the wrongful conviction.
Butler, now 43, has been married for 18 years. Among her children is a daughter
who suffers the same kidney disorder that killed her son, Walter. She lives in
the same Mississippi town and sometimes, when she is in Walmart, she has seen
the district attorney who convicted her.
For 3 years, Butler has toured, telling people her story and asking for the
death penalty to be abolished.
"This is my way of healing, by talking to other people," Butler said.
She said those who condemn others to death for murder are guilty of the same
crime.
"Murderers murder. You're doing the same thing," Butler said.
More information about Butler can be found at http://sabrinabutler.webs.com.
The results of the American Bar Association Symposium are at
www.ambar.org/kentucky.
(source: The (Corbin, Ky.) Times Tribune)
ARKANSAS:
"It Was Like Being an Alien": Damien Echols of the West Memphis 3 Speaks About
Healing After Death Row
After 18 years in death row, with much of that time spent in solitary
confinement, locked down 23 hours a day at the Varner Unit Supermax, Damien
Echols of the West Memphis 3 now walks free - but he is not exonerated.
Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted for the murders of
three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993 in what prosecutors called
a satanic ritual killing. Prosecutors asserted that Echols, Baldwin and
Misskelley were part of a satanic cult.
The 3 men now walk free in large part because of a new documentary directed by
Amy Berg and produced by the couple behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter
Jackson and Fran Walsh. The film, West of Memphis, lays out the key findings of
an investigation, more than a year long, funded by Jackson and Walsh after they
got involved with Echols' defense team and the fight to free Echols and clear
his name based upon new evidence the documentary brings to light.
The film reveals how prosecutors and politicians resisted questioning the
validity of the original conviction at all costs, despite new evidence that has
emerged over the years contradicting their version of the events, and a
fundamentally corrupt criminal justice system bent on shutting the case once
and for all. The case of the West Memphis 3 also has been covered in HBO's
"Paradise Lost" series and is the subject of a fictional feature film, The
Devil's Knot, released in 2013.
Many have hailed the 3 teenagers' conviction as a modern-day witch hunt because
prosecutors presented almost no hard evidence tying them to the scene of the
crime but painted a horrific picture of a brutal killing based on the young
men's dark aesthetic.
Since Echols' release, he has authored a memoir, Life After Death, and now
lives with his wife, Lori Davis, whom he married while on death row and who has
spent a tireless 16 years working toward his freedom, in the fitting town of
Salem, Massachusetts.
Truthout spoke with Damien Echols during an event at the University of North
Texas, which screened the new film.
Candice Bernd: How hard was it to adjust to life outside of death row after you
were released?
Damien Echols: It was incredibly hard, just because not only had I been in
prison for 18 years, I had also been in solitary confinement for the last 10
years. So just dealing with human interaction alone was just something that I
was completely unprepared for. To say it's overwhelming doesn't even come close
to describing it. But then you also take into account other things, like the
fact that I have extreme post-traumatic stress disorder, was completely
technologically illiterate, it really was like being an alien in an entirely
new world and having to figure out every single thing you do on a daily basis
by yourself. It took every ounce of energy I had just to make it through the
day for several, several months.
CB: What was it like to learn of the flood of support you received while on
death row from rock stars and celebrities? Did you ever imagine that your case
would blow up and become something that reached the magnitude it did?
DE: No, but at the same time, when I was in prison, I would call Lori every
single morning, and she would tell me what was going on. She would tell me
Johnny [Depp] is doing this or Eddie Vedder is doing this or Peter Jackson is
doing this. So I knew what was going on, but at the same time, as soon as you
hang that phone up, you're going right back to just trying to survive another
day in prison. So stuff like that is almost something that's happening in a
completely separate world. It almost like something you see on TV. It doesn't
have a direct impact on your daily survival when it comes to prison life.
CB: So you're free, but you're not actually exonerated. I wanted to ask about
the Alford plea, which is kind of an arcane judicial doctrine. Why was it used
in your case?
DE: The Alford plea. I had never even heard of such a thing when we got this.
The prosecutor got together with my attorneys, and they came up with this thing
called an Alford plea, which basically means that you are accepting the guilty
plea that the state offers you - but at the same time you are legally allowed
to maintain your innocence - makes no sense whatsoever. In essence, what it
comes down to and what it's for is it's a legal way that the state can get you
out of their hair, but at the same time they can't be held responsible for what
they did to you. It lets them off the hook as far as lawsuits and things like
that are concerned. Also, even now the state of Arkansas has never, ever had
any exoneration. Nobody on death row has ever been exonerated by Arkansas. So
this, us having to take this plea, allows them to maintain that record.
CB: Can you just talk about how Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh came to be
involved in your case? What was it like to have their support?
DE: I can't remember how they came to be involved, because they were far more
in contact with Lori than they were with me. She would be the one you would
have to ask about when and how, but over time I can tell you that they became
closer to us than my own flesh-and-blood family is. I absolutely love them
dearly. They not only helped us out with the case, but when I got out I also
had nothing. I didn't have anything in my pocket. I didn't have a suit of
clothes to change into. I had nowhere to go. If it wasn't for them helping me
whenever I got out of prison, I mean, really, in essence, I was homeless.
CB: Can you talk about your meditation and your spirituality and how it helped
you survive on death row?
DE: It seems like most people out here don't put a great deal of energy into
it. It's something that they think pays off once you're dead or in the
afterlife or something like that. For me, spirituality, to be of any
importance, has to be something you can apply to everyday life, that's
practical, that benefits you in some way in your daily existence. And one of
the things, for me, by the time I got out, I was sitting anywhere from five to
seven hours a day of meditation. Over the years that I was there I received
ordination in the Rinzai tradition of Japanese Buddhism, that was the tradition
that used to train the Samurai in ancient Japan. I also had to learn a lot of
energy work, things like Reiki, Qigong, Tai Chi, just because in prison,
especially on death row, they're not going to spend a lot of time and money and
energy taking care of someone they plan on killing. It just doesn't make sense.
So there were times I had been beaten severely over the years, at one point; I
was beaten so bad that I started to piss blood. I had been hit in the face, and
it caused a bunch of nerve damage in my teeth, and there are no caps or crowns
or root canals or anything like that in there. Your choices are live in pain or
let them pull your teeth out. And I didn't want to live without teeth. So I had
to find some way to deal with the pain - that's where the energy work came in.
I think a lot of people, whenever they practice spiritual traditions like this,
they go through this period of wondering, 'Am I actually doing something or is
this just mental masturbation. Am I playing mind games with myself?' And I
never had to go through that. Because if I'm in extreme pain and I do something
and the pain is gone, then I see that it works. I never have to wonder, 'Am I
actually doing something here?' It became something that I was extremely
passionate about and still am. That's what I do. I have a place in Salem,
Massachusetts, where we live now, and also in Boston, where that's what I love
doing, teaching meditation, teaching energy work.
But it made me realize, there are so many things dismissed in the Western
world. Just for example, basically a lot of what I do is basically like
acupuncture without the needles. And I found out through studying that in the
United States we were told that there was no such thing as acupuncture all the
way up until the 1970s. It was only when Richard Nixon was president and he
went over to China and saw with his own eyes and came back and said 'Yes, I saw
it. There is such a thing,' did Western doctors start to admit that it was
real. Before then, Americans had been told it was a Chinese fairy tale, an
Asian myth, there was no such thing. So it made me just wonder and also be
amazed at how many things are possible that get dismissed or discredited due to
lack of understanding or information. I've discovered a lot of those things
over the years, just through the spiritual practices.
(source: Truth-out.org)
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