Jan. 9
TEXAS:
Petetan found competent to stand trial for murder----Prosecutors are seeking
the death penalty against Carnell Petetan Jr., who is charged with killing his
estranged wife in 2012.
A McLennan County jury determined Thursday that Carnell Petetan Jr. is
competent to face capital murder charges in the 2012 shooting death of his
estranged wife.
A 19th State District Court jury deliberated about 2 hours before rejecting
claims by Petetan's defense team that his intellectual disability renders him
incompetent to stand trial.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the 36-year-old Port Arthur
man, who is charged with killing his wife, Kimberly Farr Petetan, 5 months
after he was released from prison.
The court has scheduled tentative dates for jury selection to begin on Feb. 24
and for testimony to begin on April 7.
In death penalty cases, prospective jurors are questioned individually, a
process that can take 4 to 5 weeks.
The competency trial was necessary because 2 mental health experts appointed by
the court disagreed on Petrtan's competency.
****************
Mental health experts differ on Petetan's competence
After unforeseen delays Tuesday and Wednesday, testimony from dueling mental
health professionals and a family member's courtroom outburst, jurors should be
asked Thursday to determine if Carnell Petetan Jr. is competent to stand trial
in the 2012 shooting death of his estranged wife.
Ollie Seay, an Austin psychologist appointed as a defense expert, testified
Wednesday that Petetan's intellectual disability renders him incapable of
effectively consulting with his attorneys and understanding the criminal
proceedings against him, rendering him incompetent to stand trial.
Her testimony was countered by Michael Pittman, a Dallas psychiatrist appointed
by the court to examine Petetan, 36, who is charged with capital murder in his
wife's death and could be subject to the death penalty.
Pittman told the jury he thinks Petetan is feigning incompetence and has a much
better grasp on the criminal justice system than he is letting on. Pittman
testified that he has evaluated 10,000 inmates and found about 60 % of them
incompetent, but added he is sure Petetan is competent to stand trial.
Pittman said records he reviewed showed that Petetan, as a 16-year-old,
inquired if he was going to be certified to stand trial as an adult, a query
that Pittman said showed an unusual awareness of the criminal justice system
for a teenager.
As Pittman testified, Petetan's older brother, Herbert Mouton, got up from his
seat in the courtroom and shouted, "If it's in the newspaper, everybody is
going to know about it."
Mouton walked from the courtroom, and 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother
ordered deputies to block him from returning to the courthouse.
Pittman said letters Petetan has written to family members from jail, legal
wording in grievances he has filed for being jailed in the segregation unit, a
prison pen pal website he was on inviting women to write him in prison and his
bragging to another therapist that he made $500 a day dealing drugs when he was
a teenager all led to Pittman's opinion that Petetan is competent to stand
trial.
Also, Pittman said, there was no mention of him claiming to be incompetent
during multiple stints through the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems,
including a 20-year term for attempted murder during which he took no mental
health medications.
2012 shooting
Petetan is charged in the September 2012 slaying of his estranged wife,
Kimberly Farr Petetan, at her Waco apartment 5 months after Petetan's release
from prison.
He was arrested in Bryan later that evening. Bryan police detective Christopher
Moutray, who interviewed Petetan after his arrest, testified Thursday that
Petetan did not seem like someone who later would claim to be incompetent.
He said Petetan told him that one of two men who drove from Port Arthur with
him that day killed his wife, despite statements from the other 2 men and
Kimberly Petetan's 8-year-old daughter that they saw him shoot her.
Wednesday's court session was delayed again after prosecutor Greg Davis renewed
his objection that Seay violated the court's order by not providing the state
with a copy of her evaluation of Petetan before this week's trial.
Once Seay got on the stand, she said she is opposed to the death penalty and
intervened as president of a mental health advocacy group by filing a brief
with the U.S. Supreme Court in the death row appeal of Billie Wayne Coble.
Coble, who remains on death row, was twice given the death penalty for killing
Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha and his parents in Axtell in 1989. Vicha's son,
J.R. Vicha, a McLennan County assistant district attorney, was in the courtroom
as Seay testified.
Seay admitted that she violated Strother's order but said she did so after
seeking direction from one of Petetan's attorneys, Russ Hunt Sr.
Hunt admitted that the situation should have been handled differently, but said
no one intentionally violated the court's order.
He said he should have contacted the judge and prosecutors to let them know
that he disagreed that the state was entitled to see the report from the
defense expert. Then the matter could have been settled at a hearing, he said,
instead of waiting until the day of trial and causing delays, he said.
(source for both: Waco Tribune)
***************
Cedar Park man indicted on capital murder charge in foster child's death
Jacob Salas, the man accused of killing an 11-month-old foster child in her
Cedar Park home, was indicted Tuesday on capital murder charges.
Salas, 32, was charged with felony child abuse on Oct. 21 in connection with
the death of Orion Hamilton. On Tuesday, a Williamson County grand jury
indicted Salas on capital murder of a child under 10, a charge that can carry
the death penalty.
According to the indictment, Salas is accused of putting pressure on Orion's
head, striking the child with an unknown object and/or causing her to strike an
unknown object.
Orion died Oct. 20 at the home of her aunt and foster mother, Heather Hamilton.
Cedar Park police say Salas, who has three children with Hamilton, crushed the
child's head between his knee and the floor. According to state documents,
Salas was not supposed to be around Orion or his 3 children - all of whom lived
in the same home - because of his previous involvement with Child Protective
Services.
Orion was sent to live with Hamilton in December 2012 and CPS monitored that
arrangement for 10 months. 2 weeks before Orion's death, the state transferred
her case to Lutheran Social Services of the South, a nonprofit foster care
agency.
Since then, both agencies have come under fire for an apparent failure to take
adequate safety precautions in Orion's case. Last month, the Department of
Family and Protective Services indefinitely banned Lutheran from taking any new
foster children because the state says the organization failed to do a
background check on Salas or follow up on information that he might have been
living in the home.
This week, Family and Protective Services admitted that it made its own
mistakes in the case, though a spokesman declined to detail what those were.
(source: Austin American-Statesman)
*************
Rodney Reed seeking relief on death row
Is an innocent Bastrop County man on death row?
Claims are now that the evidence used to convict Rodney Reed of the April 23,
1996 kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of Stacey Stites is completely
undermined by the evidence in Reed's habeas proceedings.
It's been a long time for Reed. Now, 16 years after he was charged with the
capital murder of Stites, he still has attorneys arguing for his defense and
his claim of innocence. Nothing but semen deposited 24 or more hours before her
death ties Reed to the death of Stites.
The latest arguments were heard last month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, Louisiana.
On December 4, 2013 judges in New Orleans heard Attorney Bryce Benjet's claims
Reed was denied effective counsel and that no one had challenged the 'temporal
link' used to convict Reed until the federal appeals process started.
Here is some of the broad history of the case:
In 1987 Reed was charged with rape and was finally acquitted of that rape in
1991.
In October of 1995 Reed met Stacey Stites in Bastrop and their relationship
began, Reed said in an interview for 'State vs. Reed' a documentary released in
2006 by Ryan Polomski.
It was around New Years 1996 when Stites got engaged to Jimmy Fennell, a
Giddings police officer while she is still allegedly having an affair with
Reed.
April 21-22, 1996 was when Reed claimed he had his last encounter with Stites
and they had relations at the State Park.
The documented timeline of April 23, 1996 is such:
3:30 a.m. - Fennell says Stites left for work though he was asleep at the time.
They had showered and gone to bed between 8 and 10 p.m. the night before said
Fennell, the only witness to these events.
5:23 a.m. - Bastrop Police Officer Paul Alexander finds Stites red truck in BHS
parking lot before it's reported missing and calls in plates.
6:45 a.m. - HEB calls Stites mother, Carol Stites, to report Stacey didn't show
up for work; Carol calls Fennell who puts out an all-points bulletin on the
missing truck.
8 a.m. - Investigators make the connection between the found truck and the
missing woman.
3 p.m. - Kenneth Osborn, a real estate appraiser, found Stites' body along
Bluebonnet Road. The body was found with the shirt off, pants undone and zipper
broken.
DPS analyst Karen Blakely examined body for rape. She found evidence of semen.
A partial piece of a belt was found near the body.
Stites' body was removed from crime scene at approximately 8:55 p.m. and did
not arrive at the morgue in Austin until 11 p.m.
Stites' truck was searched by DPS and only Fennell's and Stites' fingerprints
were found in it besides some latent prints. Also found were one of Stites'
shoes, one earring and pieces of a plastic drinking glass. The driver's seat
was reclined and the seatbelt still fastened. Body fluid also found between
driver and passenger seats. A partial piece of belt was found outside the
truck.
Stites was not assaulted where her body was found. It was dumped there and not
drug along the ground. Her work vest was found in the truck but her name tag
was stuck between her knees. Her fingernails were raggedly cut to quick.
On April 24, 1996 at 1:50 p.m. Travis County Medical Examiner Dr. Roberto
Bayardo performed an autopsy on Stites' body and found intact sperm, but few.
There was no evidence of bruising consistent with rape. There was no DNA
matching Reed found on broken belt. The State had no explanation for the oddly
placed post-mortem burns on Stites' body.
Bastrop Police Department Detective Ed Salmela was initially named investigator
on the case. Part of his report states he found the body fluid inside the
truck. Fennell was interrogated by Bastrop Police Department Chief Ronnie
Duncan.
Texas Ranger L.R. 'Rocky' Wardlow was then named lead investigator on the
multi-jurisdictional case. His testimony was Fennell was prime suspect.
On April 25, 1996 Fennell was interrogated by Ranger Wardlow.
On April 29, 1996 Fennell went to BCSO about items in his truck and his truck
was returned to him. Reed's defense was not allowed to confirm the DPS results
on truck. The truck was sold within days after Stites was murdered.
In June of 1996 Ed Salmela was found dead of what was determined to be a
self-inflicted gunshot wound. Wardlow, who was a roommate of Salmela's at the
time of the death, was the investigator.
In the documentary 'State vs. Reed' Ed's brother, Scott Salmela, said during
clean-up of Ed's apartment he got a call from the laundry about clothes Ed had
taken to get cleaned. Ed had told the laundry clerk he was going to Louisiana
and would be back in an hour to get the clothes. Also, Scott found Ed had taken
$600 out of his bank account after dropping off his clothes and within one hour
of that transaction he was dead.
On October 3, 1996 Fennell was given a polygraph test by licensed polygraph
examiner Pat Carmack of Bastrop County Adult Supervision Department and Fennell
was deceptive on the specific answer to 'Did you strangle Stacey Stites?'
On December 18, 1996 Fennell was given a second polygraph test by Texas
Department of Public Safety Lieutenant Gordon Moore and again was deceptive on
the specific answer to 'Did you strangle Stacey Stites?'
Blood samples from 28 suspects did not match DNA from Stites. Ranger Wardlow
interrogated many suspects and detailed reasons for releasing them but that was
not done for Fennell. Fennell's apartment was never searched as the last place
Stites was seen alive. Standard procedure was not done because of 'lack of
probable cause'. Wardlow said four of five interrogations with Fennell were
'very adversarial'.
Fennell was ruled out as a suspect because he would have had no means of
getting to his apartment by the time that Stites' mother received the 6:45 a.m.
call that Stites had not arrived for work. This was based on the unstated
assumption that Fennell acted alone.
In March of 1997 Bastrop Police Officer David Board brought forward the 1995
case DNA evidence of Reed's to match the DNA from Stites. Reed was arrested on
an unrelated charge and then indicted for the murder of Stites. When Reed is
being investigated for drug charges and shown a photo of Stites, Reed denies
knowing her.
On April 4, 1997, one full year into the investigation, Reed is charged with
the capital murder of Stites. Fennell had been the top suspect until Reed's DNA
came into the system.
Prosecuting attorneys were Bastrop District Attorney Charles Penick, Assistant
Bastrop District Attorney Forrest Sanderson and Assistant Attorney General Lisa
Tanner. Appellate Counsel were Lisa Tanner and Charles Penick.
On January 29, 1998 Defense attorneys assigned were Lydia Clay-Jackson and
Calvin Garvie. Appellate Counsel was David Schulman.
On May 13, 1998 a DPS report by Wilson H. Young, criminalist, to Lisa Tanner
showed results of tests on beer cans found at the scene which have DNA
excluding Reed but including Stites, Ed Salmela and Giddings Police Officer
David Hall, who lived in the same apartments as Fennell and Stites and was a
friend to them. (Exculpatory evidence withheld from defense.)
In May of 1998, Reed's trial lasted 3 weeks. The jury deliberated for 4 hours
to determine guilt. 2 weeks later they assigned the death penalty. District
Judge Harold R. Towslee presided.
In March of 1998 the Court appointed defense attorneys were Duane Olney and
co-investigator Pat Olney. Defense Attorneys claimed Reed and Stites had a
consensual secret affair and that explains presence of his DNA in Stites and
the defense also claimed Fennell killed Stites in a rage after finding out
about her affair with Reed.
The State claimed that, as a pedestrian, Reed assaulted Stites somewhere along
the way as she drove to work around 3:30 a.m. The claim is based on the semen
having been put there within 24 hours of her death based on ME Bayardo's
report. State testimony confirmed the fact intact sperm indicates it was
deposited shortly before or at Stites' death.
The State denied Reed's claims, said Reed could not prove the affair with
Stites and could not tie Fennell to crime.
Unanswered questions at initial trial were: How could Reed leave no DNA
evidence in Stites' truck? Why did police not search the Giddings apartment
where she lived with Fennell? Why did attorneys not prove the affair with
witnesses?
In the documentary 'State vs. Reed' Independent Investigator David Fisher
showed burns on Stites' body in crime scene photos that are significant. No
mention of how these were made was in Bayardo's autopsy. The burns are
post-mortem, almost 3rd degree burns.
Fisher pointed out the ligature mark at the strangulation point is not pink as
it would have been if Stites were alive when strangled.
Fisher approached ME Bayardo with that information and Bayardo told Fisher it
was very difficult to tell the difference between suffocation and
strangulation, "So, I just guessed," he said. Also, the cigarette burns on body
noted in autopsy were not there in crime scene photos.
Fisher showed the autopsy photos show a spec on Stites' tooth consistent with
'popcorn pieces' on floorboard of truck indicating she was at some time face
down on floorboard.
In November of 1999 in the 21st District Court, Reed filed his original writ of
habeas corpus with Bill Barbisch, attorney. Reed's defense had finally seen the
May 13, 1998 document of results of DNA on beer cans at site where Stites' body
was found.
State Habeas Counsel were Lisa Tanner and Tina Dettmer.
In February of 2001 Reed filed his second writ of habeas corpus which is
dismissed as successive.
On September 17, 2001 Arthur Eisenberg, a pathologist in Tarrant County, did
further DNA testing on beer cans found at the site near where Stites' body was
found. David Hall was still not excluded based on those results.
In February of 2002 Reed's original writ is denied.
On February 10, 2003 Reed sought a federal appeal to vacate the death sentence
with a 133-page appeal by Attorney Bryce Benjet stating witnesses were not
called, Penick rejected witness' testimony, and there was evidence tampering.
Lydia Clay-Jackson, attorney for Reed filed the declaration in the U.S.
District Court for the Western District of Texas. The declaration stated:
Reed's defense was rushed and incomplete as they were appointed January 29,
1998; and the defense knew Fennell had failed 2 polygraph tests but counsel
could not put Fennell back in Giddings to get the call Stites had not made it
to work at 6:45 a.m.
Counsel had not seen the affidavits of Keng and Barnett until January 30, 2003
and other witness information was not given to defense in official reports such
as Barnett's statements and police reports from Prater family.
The May 13, 1998 DPS DNA testing results on beer cans near Stites' body was not
provided to defense and the January 2001 DPS report on further DNA testing by
Arthur Eisenberg which excluded Stites' and Salmela's DNA but not David Hall's
DNA had not been reviewed.
On February 10, 2003, the defense first saw the complete DPS video compiled at
the site Stites' body was found that shows authorities drove vehicles over
roadway destroying evidence; walked over the dirt road without preserving
evidence first; wore no protective clothing during evidence collection; did not
change gloves between evidence tasks; failed to record rigor mortis,
post-mortem lividity and temperature to determine time of death; moved Stites'
body inappropriately; and had cross-contaminated evidence due to not changing
gloves.
Consequently, the defense did not believe Reed's conviction was reliable.
On November 18, 2003 Stephen Keng filed an affidavit in Lee County documenting
a conversation he had relating information from witness Martha Barnett to DA
Penick to which Keng said Penick responded 'Laughing, and he told me he had all
the evidence he needed, and did not want to hear any more about the case'.
In March of 2004 the District Court issued a stay.
In March of 2005 Reed filed a 2nd subsequent state application for a writ of
habeas corpus. The District Court remands two of Reed's claims for evidentiary
hearing.
In November of 2005 the US Western District Court held a rehearing on
suppression of evidence.
On March 9, 2006 Reed's defense requested documents on Sgt. Curtis L. Davis,
Jr. - one of which showed him recommending Fennell and the other being his
timesheet where he left work with a broken tooth on April 22, 1996 and was off
work from April 23, 1996 to April 27, 1996 for a personal death.
On March 21, 2006 Arthur Eisenberg, a pathologist in Tarrant County, made a
declaration on the results of further DNA testing on beer cans found at the
site near where Stites' body was found. David Hall was not excluded based on
results from his September 17, 2001 testing.
On March 27, 2006 the Bastrop District Court held a hearing of the 3rd habeas
application on 2 of the claims Reed raised. The claims were based on the
forensic evidence used by the state being profoundly misleading and that Reed
sexually assaulted Stites at or near the time of death is completely unfounded
and based on incompetent evidence.
Also, there was ample evidence Fennell had opportunity and motive and the state
suppressed much of this evidence including the eyewitnesses - Martha Barnett
who saw Stites and Fennell together in a loud confrontation at the Old Frontier
parking lot the morning before she was killed; and Jennifer Prater and Brenda
Prater who saw Stites in their neighborhood driving around with a male that was
not Reed.
Also suppressed were the DNA tests on beer cans found near Stites' body that
suggested she shared a beer with Fennell's close friend, neighbor and fellow
Giddings Police Officer David Hall as well as Salmela. Also suppressed was a
statement by Fennell made before the murder that if he caught his girlfriend
cheating he would strangle her with a belt.
The hearing included the Stephen Keng affidavit in Bastrop County to show
evidence from his calendar and client files he spoke to Charles Penick on March
23, 1998 about witness Martha Barnett seeing Reed and Stites. Keng had filed an
affidavit November 18, 2003 documenting the conversation in Lee County. That
affidavit included a letter from Penick recommending Keng.
On April 6, 2006 Pamela Duncan filed an affidavit in Lee County regarding her
relationship with Jimmy Fennell, Jr.
Duncan began dating Fennell in August of 1996. Her report states he was
'extremely possessive and jealous', 'verbally hostile', 'screamed in public',
and was 'extremely prejudiced against blacks.'
She also stated Fennell and David Hall were good friends. Duncan's relationship
with Fennell was over by September 1997, but she claimed she was stalked for
months by Fennell driving by, screaming obscenities, showing up at her work,
and harassing her friends as an officer. She said Fennell did so until she
filed a police report and he moved.
On April 14, 2006 LeRoy Riddick, M.D., State Medical Examiner for the Alabama
Department of Forensic Sciences and County Medical Examiner in Mobile County,
filed an affidavit in the State of Alabama after reviewing Bayardo's autopsy
report and testimony, photos and video of the site Stites' body was found,
Blakely's testimony, DPS reports, crime scene reports and police reports of
witness interviews.
Dr. Riddick concluded the time of death could not be determined without the
information being gathered at the scene. Bayardo's autopsy report at 1:50 p.m.
the day following Stites' body being found had left the corpse refrigerated
almost a full day. Evidence of anal intercourse was not conclusive.
The cause of death reported, 'Asphyxia due to ligature strangulation associated
with sexual assault' was incorrect because there was no evidence of sexual
assault. In evidence collection, no DNA was sought from Stites' fingernails and
the video shows possible cross-contamination of evidence due to not changing
gloves between tasks.
On August 2, 2007 Ronald L. Singer, M.D. Crime Laboratory Director of the
Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office Criminalistics Laboratory in Ft. Worth
filed an affidavit after reviewing Bayardo's autopsy report and testimony,
still and videotape images on the site Stites' body was found, Dr. LeRoy
Riddick's affidavit, Lisa Tanner's, Missy Wolfe's and Wilson Young's testimony
and evidence submissions reports by law enforcement authorities.
Dr. Singer concluded at the scene Stites' body was found investigators
'exercised poor security and poor control at scene' as well as poor techniques
in evidence collection, lack of DNA testing on the belt pieces supposedly used
to strangle Stites and the testimony by Blakely 'went well beyond her area of
expertise when testifying' on issues such as time of death, identification of
marks on the body and determining it a crime of passion.
On August 24, 2007 the Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas received the Brief of
Applicant Rodney Reed.
In March of 2008 the Appeals court weighs appeal in evidentiary hearing before
Judge Reva Towslee-Corbett and denies the request sending it back to federal
courts.
In July of 2008 Fennell pleads guilty to kidnapping and sexual assault of a
woman in his custody as a Georgetown Police Officer and is sentenced to 10
years.
On December 17, 2008 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Reed failed to
prove prosecutors suppressed evidence in his 1998 trial. Judge Reva
Towslee-Corbett ruled there was not credible evidence the state had done
anything wrong. The Judge accepted the findings of fact provided by state
without question.
In May of 2009 Reed filed a state appeal with details of Fennell's
aggressiveness and crime.
On December 22, 2009 Reed was back in court with a 158-page brief seeking a
hearing on evidence in Federal District Court. New evidence of Fennell's
alleged violent history toward women moved the case from federal court back to
the Court of Criminal Appeals.
On June 15, 2012 Judge U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Austin recommends U.S.
District Judge Lee Yeakel to reject Reed's appeal.
On June 29, 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District in Texas -
Director Rick Thaler of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional
Institutions Division, respondent, objections were filed to the report and
recommendation of the U.S. Magistrate Judge with brief in support that
concluded he does not object to ultimate conclusion to deny Reed federal habeas
relief but did file four objections to Reed's claims for procedural default as
in abuse of writ.
On August 13, 2012 the U.S. District Court for the Western District in Texas -
Director Doug Dretke of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional
Institutions Division, respondent, filed petitioner's (Reed's) objections to
the report and recommendation of the magistrate judge which stated Reed was
convicted on the theory that he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled
Stites to death.
The main points were:
The evidence of sexual assault is unreliable. Reed's defense secured
declaration from ME Bayardo and affidavits from Dr. Singer and Riddick which
negates the State's forensic case. The presence of semen is a fact, but not
conclusive evidence of guilt.
Credibility of witnesses who could confirm the consensual relationship was
determined by lack of evidence of cocaine in toxicology reports on Stites'
hair. The testing done would have only showed heavy cocaine use and re-testing
was requested.
The report wrongly states that law enforcement adequately scrutinized Fennell.
Fennell's apartment was not searched. Fennell was seen arguing with Stites at a
time he said he was asleep.
An investigation might have found Fennell's friend, Sgt. Curtis Davis, left
work around the time of murder and that he was with Fennell when he went to see
his truck parked at BHS. Davis and Fennell were overheard taking about Stites'
affair by Jane Campos.
Fennell had threatened to kill Stites if he caught her in an affair by
strangulation with a belt a classmate, Blackwell, stated. The law enforcement
assumptions it was impossible for Fennell to commit the crime is undermined by
the DNA on the beer cans.
Fennell's character has been undermined by his recent guilty plea in a
kidnapping, sexual assault case.
The conclusion being that all exculpatory evidence presented would effect a
jury applying a reasonable doubt the petition stated.
The petitioner had many other points, stating the Magistrate gave more
deference than warranted to the State Court Findings, the procedural default
determined was regularly applied, and the report wrongly rejects Reed's
ineffective assistance of counsel claims as procedurally defaulted.
Also incorrect were the determinations of suppression of exculpatory DNA
testing on the beer cans and suppression of eyewitness accounts by the Prater
family were not prejudiced as well as objection to the reports' treatment of
the 'Brady' claims.
The conclusion to the petitioner's comments was the evidence used to convict
Reed was completely undermined by the evidence in habeas proceedings.
Reed requests the court vacate his conviction and death sentence and order him
to the custody of the Bastrop Sheriff's Office for further proceedings or for
his release and grant any other relief that law or justice may require.
(source: The Elgin Courier)
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Who Plays By the Rules? Not Rick Perry
Let's hope that Texas Governor Rick Perry was paying attention in kindergarten.
Most likely, that's where he first learned to play by the rules.
The rule, in this case, is article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular
Relations (VCCR), to which the U.S. is a party. That document requires that
foreign nationals who are arrested or detained be given notice "without delay"
of their right to have their embassy or consulate notified of that arrest.
Foreign officials can then assist defendants with their legal proceedings.
Edgar Arias Tamayo is a Mexican national arrested 20 years ago in Houston for
the murder of police officer Guy Gaddis. He is scheduled to be executed on
January 22. At the time of his arrest, he was not notified of his consular
rights. Instead, Mexican authorities learned of Tamayo???s case just 1 week
before trial.
The upshot is that Tamayo's trial lawyer spent less than 16 hours of
investigation on the case and did not tell the jury of the deprivations and
abuse Tamayo suffered as a child, his developmental problems, or the serious
head injury he experienced as a teen and its impact on his behavior.
10 years ago, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the United
States had violated the VCCR in the cases of 51 Mexican men sentenced to death
in the U.S., including Tamayo.
Then-President George W. Bush sought to have the state courts provide the
necessary "review and reconsideration" in all of these cases, and in 2008, the
U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found that the ICJ decision "constitutes an
international law obligation on the part of the United States."
However, the court also ruled that authority to implement the ICJ decision
rested with Congress rather than the president. In 2011, a bill was introduced
that would have fulfilled that judgment, but it has not passed.
With his execution date less than weeks away, executive clemency is Tamayo's
only hope. Both the Supreme Court and Secretary of State John Kerry have noted
that failing to comply with the VCCR and the ICJ ruling puts our relations with
other countries at risk. When we don???t play by the rules, foreign countries
dealing with U.S. citizens may decide to do the same.
(source: Andrea Hall, Mid Atlantic Regional Death Penalty Abolition
Coordinator, Amnesty international USA)
****************
Serial Killer to die in April
After more than 12 years on death row, a date has been set for the execution of
serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells: April 3.
The fixing of this date will come as a New Year's present to the families of
his victims. Sadly, the execution dates for other monsters are way off.
When you study men like Tommy Lynn Sells, you really do have to wonder how some
people can be opposed unconditionally to the death penalty under any
circumstances. When the usual excuses don't apply: when there is no possibility
of release ever, when there is absolutely no question about guilt, and where
the crimes are both so manifold and so heinous that even case hardened
detectives have been known to weep, how could any reasonable person object to
the likes of fiend Ted Bundy, killer clown John Gacy or Mr Sells himself being
expunged from the face of this planet?
Although he has been convicted only of one murder, he claims to have committed
many more. It remains to be seen how much credence can be given to some of his
claims, but there is no doubt that he was indeed responsible for others.
Police handout
A sketch and photograph released by Texas police. Sells was described by
Krystal Surles who was just ten years old when he cut her throat, but
miraculously she survived, escaped and identified him.
You can read a bit about him at the Crime Library, you can also find a nearly
50 minute documentary about him on YouTube which includes interviews with both
Sells himself and the man who arrested him. Be warned though, this documentary
is explicit. (There are several uploads of the same film, and their quality is
variable).
In August, the State of Florida executed John Errol Ferguson who was described
as a "mentally ill man," as though this were some mitigation or excuse. In
1977, Ferguson and 2 others murdered 6 people in a home invasion robbery;
later, Ferguson murdered Brian Glenfeldt, raping the teenager's girlfriend
Belinda Worley for good measure before shooting her too. Not everyone was taken
in by the sob story of this poor mental defective; 1 woman started a petition
for his execution.
Alfredo Prieto has been sentenced to death in both California and Virginia, the
latter in November 2010, the former as far back as 1992. The State of Virginia
will have the privilege of executing him, that is if he doesn't die of old age
first.
On death row in Connecticut are home-invasion killers Steven Hayes and Joshua
Komisarjevsky.
They murdered 3 people, but are technically not serial killers, although Hayes
claims/boasts of committing other murders.
The sole survivor of the Cheshire home invasion massacre was Dr William Petit,
who might well have died himself had he not managed to break out of the
basement where Hayes and Komisarjevsky dumped him bound and beaten.
Dr Petit, who was the proud father of two beautiful daughters, remarried in
2012, and as of November last year is a father again, this time of a son; he
has also established a foundation in the name of his 1st wife and Haley and
Michaela. Though the memory of his 1st family will live on, so too will their
killers; it will be years, possibly decades before Hayes and Komisarjevsky pay
fully for their crimes.
The latest serial killer to be sentenced to death in the US is Harvey Miguel
Robinson. Actually, that is not quite correct; Robinson was scheduled for
execution in April 2006 but this date was stayed. However, at the end of last
year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed this decision.
Robinson is a candidate of sorts for the Guinness Book Of Records because he
was not yet 18 when he committed his 1st known murder, that of a 29-year-old
nurse's aide. Then he murdered a 15 year old girl, and finally a 47 year old
grandmother - eclectic as well as precocious. All his victims were raped. He
has definitely committed other crimes, including the rape and near murder of a
5-year-old girl.
Robinson's lawyers have argued that he suffers from brain damage and therefore
should not be executed; this non sequitur is trotted out regularly in such
cases as with the "mentally ill" Ferguson.
It is ludicrous and obscene in equal measure that cases both as horrendous and
as clear cut as these - multiple victims and overwhelming evidence - should be
played out year in, year out, decade in, decade out.
Fortunately, serial killers and mass murderers make up a tiny percentage of the
prison population, and once they have had due process with the one mandatory
appeal there is no need to delay any execution. In April 1962, James Hanratty
was executed less than 2 months after his conviction, and less than 8 months
after the A6 Murder. The doubling or trebling of that timetable in cases of
serial murder would be more than reasonable. Prompt execution would also free
up enormous resources both to allow speedier justice for others - accused and
victims - and to invest time, manpower and money in dealing with ordinary
prisoners, in particular those who can be reformed and sent forth back into the
wide world where they will hopefully sin no more.
(source: Op-Ed; Alexander Baron, Digital Journal)
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