Oct. 3
TEXAS:
Death Watch: Judge's "Horrible Bigotry" Not Enough to Force New Trial----The
5CA has denied Randy Halprin's plea as his death date nears
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals doesn't dispute that the judge in Randy
Halprin's trial was a racist. But in its Sept. 23 ruling, the 5CA says there's
nothing it can do about it now that will help Halprin, a member of the
notorious Texas 7, scheduled to be executed Oct. 10.
Halprin's attorneys allege that his trial was biased beyond repair and a new
one is in order. The 1st sentence of their appeal to the 5CA reads: "The
Honorable Vickers Cunningham, the presiding judge at Randy Halprin's capital
trial, is a racist and anti-Semitic bigot who described Halprin – a Jewish man
– as 'that fuckin' Jew' and a 'goddamn kike.'" Cunningham presided over most of
the trials of the Texas 7, a group of inmates who broke out of prison in 2000
and robbed a sporting goods store, then shot down Irving police officer Aubrey
Hawkins when he responded to the alarm. They hid out for months before a tip to
the television show America's Most Wanted led authorities to Colorado, where
they apprehended 6 of the 7 men in 2001 (one killed himself to avoid capture).
One after another, the defendants received death sentences from Cunningham; 4
have already been executed. Patrick Murphy, whose execution was stayed in March
after he'd asked for a Buddhist priest to attend to him in the death chamber,
is now scheduled to die in November.
Cunningham's bigotry came to light 15 years after the trials, when he was
running in the 2018 Republican primary for a seat on the Dallas County
Commissioners Court. Cunningham's brother told The Dallas Morning News about
the living trust Cunningham had set up for his children – allowing them to
receive shares of their inheritance only upon marrying straight white
Christians. In a video interview with the News, Cunningham said, "I'm
supporting what my beliefs are." When asked if he had ever used the "N-word,"
he gazed pensively into the air and waited 9 seconds before answering no. This
news broke on the last day of early voting in the run-off, in which Cunningham
had been heavily favored; he ended up losing by 25 votes. He and other family
members deny he is a racist; he still practices law in Dallas today.
McKinney said Cunningham took pride in the death sentences he handed out, and
remembers him saying, “from the wetback to the Jew, they knew they were going
to die.”
Halprin's appeal to 5CA is replete with other examples of Cunningham's bigotry.
Tammy McKinney, who grew up with Cunningham and knew him well, is quoted as
saying he regularly used language "such as 'nigger,' 'wetback,' 'spic,' 'kike,'
'the fuckin' Jews.'" She said Cunningham took pride in the death sentences he
handed out to the Texas 7 and remembers him saying, "From the wetback to the
Jew, they knew they were going to die."
Amanda Tackett, who worked on Cunningham's earlier failed run for Dallas County
district attorney in 2006, also remembers his demeaning language. She says
Cunningham often used the N-word and would place it in front of a black
person's name, as he did with former Dallas D.A. Craig Watkins, whom he
referred to as N-word Watkins.
Halprin's request for a new trial attracted widespread support; over 100 Jewish
attorneys and community leaders filed a brief in his favor, and The Washington
Post backed his appeal. Current Dallas County D.A. John Creuzot did not oppose
a retrial. But there were technicalities to consider, rules of procedure. The
5CA said that for the appeal to be considered, it had to have something new in
it; while Halprin's defense attorneys argued that they didn't know about
Cunningham's racism until the 2018 election – and thus it was new evidence –
the judges ruled that since Cunningham had been racist all along, it did not
constitute new grounds for appeal, and in any event wouldn't matter. For the
5CA to order a new trial, the evidence of bias would have to be so compelling
that it would make a normal jury change its verdict; the judges ruled that
Halprin's jury would still have found him guilty even if they'd known of
Cunningham's bigoted views.
Now, time is growing short. Halprin's lawyers will surely ask the U.S. Supreme
Court to review his case and order a new trial, but SCOTUS hasn't replied to
questions about their plans. If they don't hear the case, the appeal has
nonetheless offered a picture of the judiciary rarely seen, though often
suspected. In that regard, the 5CA felt compelled to draw a distinction between
Cunningham's views and its own. The statement of principle came in a footnote:
"Cunningham's racism and bigotry are horrible and completely inappropriate for
a judge."
(source: Austin Chronicle)
*********************
Man accused of killing trooper appears in court
The 24-year-old man accused of killing Texas Department of Public Safety
Trooper Moises Sanchez made his first appearance in court following new charges
that could carry the death penalty since the officer died in late August.
And state District Judge Letty Lopez wanted to know whether he could hire a
lawyer or needed on appointed.
Victor Godinez, who is charged with capital murder of a peace officer and
attempted capital murder of a peace officer, told Lopez he had to talk to his
mother, but thought that he could afford to hire an attorney.
Sergio Muñoz, the attorney in Godinez’s previous case that includes charges of
attempted capital murder, called court staff before the man’s scheduled
arraignment to tell them that Godinez had not hired him in his new case.
Lopez sharply questioned Godinez about his ability to hire an attorney and
rescheduled his arraignment to next week.
“OK, well I guess we’ll find out Monday,” Lopez told Godinez.
A Hidalgo County grand jury indicted Godinez, an Edinburg resident, on Sept.
19.
Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez said recently that his
office would meet with Sanchez’s family to determine whether to pursue the
death penalty.
“ Our office has tentatively decided how they want to handle this case, but is
meeting with Mr. Sanchez’s wife and family before the decision is made final,”
Rodriguez said recently.
The DA said he couldn’t comment further on the case.
Authorities accuse Godinez of shooting Sanchez, 48, on April 6 after the
suspect fled a car crash the trooper responded to on North 10th Street and
Freddy Gonzalez Drive in McAllen.
The 24-year-old man is accused of running away after shooting Sanchez once in
the head and once in the shoulder.
2 Edinburg police officers caught up with Godinez in the 1500 block of South
Maltese in Edinburg.
He’s also accused of shooting at those officers, who eventually apprehended him
east of Mon Mack Road and State Highway 107.
The officers were not hit and police say they recovered a .357 revolver
authorities say Godinez used in the shooting.
Sanchez went through intense rehabilitation and multiple surgeries after the
shooting.
However, on Aug. 24, he succumbed to his injuries following a surgery in
Houston.
Godinez remains jailed on $3 million in bonds.
(source: Brownsville Herald)
**********************
A trial judge recommended taking Paul Storey off death row. The Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals said no.----The state's highest criminal court rejected the
judge's finding that Storey should be resentenced to life in prison after
prosecutors falsely said at trial that the murder victim's family wanted the
death penalty.
Paul Storey was one step away from escaping the death penalty. Then came the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
The state’s highest criminal court Wednesday rejected the trial court judge’s
recommendation to resentence Storey to life in prison without the possibility
for parole after a three-day hearing last year. Storey’s sentence was being
reconsidered after it became known that Tarrant County prosecutors falsely said
at his 2008 trial that the family of Storey’s victim, Jonas Cherry, wanted the
death penalty. Cherry’s parents have since said that they have always opposed
capital punishment, including for their son’s killer.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the court explained that it was taking the unusual step
of opposing the trial judge, who it acknowledged “is in the best position to
assess the credibility of the witnesses.” While the court order didn't argue
against the finding that Storey's trial lawyers were unaware of the Cherrys'
opposition, it ruled that one of his appellate attorneys — who is now dead —
might have known, claiming there was no evidence to show he didn't.
The judges also ruled that since Cherry’s father said he often talked about his
anti-death penalty views, the appellate attorney, Robert Ford, could have found
out through “the exercise of reasonable diligence.”
“The trial court found that Ford did not know that the victim’s parents opposed
a death sentence for [Storey],” the court’s order states. “This finding is not
supported by the record. [Storey] did not present any evidence showing what
Ford did or did not know regarding the victim’s parents’ anti-death penalty
views.”
“And although the trial court found that Ford generally ‘had a strong
reputation for his diligence,’ [Storey] presented no evidence showing that Ford
was diligent in his particular case,” the ruling continued.
Generally in death penalty cases, if evidence could have been raised at an
earlier appeal and wasn’t, it is not allowed to be used in future appeals.
After the ruling, one of Storey's attorneys, Keith Hampton, said the legal team
would ask the court to reconsider the ruling, arguing the opinion now requires
appellate attorneys to interview murder victim survivors. He said an
equitability argument raised in their appeal was ignored in the court opinions.
"You can't fault ... counsel for not finding something that you suppressed,"
Hampton told The Texas Tribune. "You're not in a position to say, 'Hey, you
didn't try hard enough to find the thing that I buried.'"
Storey, now 34, was sentenced to death for the 2006 murder of Cherry, the
28-year-old assistant manager at a miniature golf course near Fort Worth,
during a robbery. Court records state that Storey and another man shot Cherry
while he was on his knees begging for his life. At his 2008 trial, a prosecutor
said that “it should go without saying” that all of Cherry’s family “believe
the death penalty is appropriate.”
But two months before his scheduled execution in 2017, Cherrys’ parents, Glenn
and Judith, wrote to Gov. Greg Abbott and the Board of Pardons and Paroles,
asking for a life sentence. They said they never wanted the death penalty and
had made that clear to Tarrant County prosecutors.
“As a result of Jonas’ death, we do not want to see another family having to
suffer through losing a child and family member,” they wrote.
One of the jurors in Storey’s trial, who has asked Texas legislators to change
what he says are confusing jury instructions in capital cases, also wrote an
affidavit that he would have never voted for a death sentence if he knew the
Cherrys didn’t want it.
The Court of Criminal Appeals stopped his execution, and sent the case back to
the trial court to determine if the Cherrys’ opposition could have been
discovered earlier. The judge found that Ford had exercised due diligence as
Storey’s appellate attorney, and that the trial prosecutors withheld the
information and knowingly presented false evidence at trial. He recommended
Storey’s sentence be changed to life.
Though the majority of the nine-judge Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed,
three dissented from Wednesday’s ruling. In a 26-page dissent, Judge Scott
Walker said asking the Cherrys their opinions on the death penalty goes beyond
“reasonable diligence.”
“‘Reasonable’ diligence would not go prying into the private feelings of a
murder victim’s family without a very good reason for doing so,” Walker wrote
in his dissent, which Judge Michelle Slaughter joined. “The trial court found
that ‘in most cases family members of murder victims do not wish to speak to
lawyers representing the person found guilty of killing their loved one.’”
Judge Kevin Yeary said in his dissent, also joined by Slaughter, that he would
at least set the case for additional review instead of simply rejecting the
appeal, which the court did.
“What I would not do is simply declare that [Ford] — who is now deceased and
unable to respond to claims about his diligence—failed to diligently
investigate the present claims, and dismiss the subsequent writ application on
that basis,” he wrote.
3 other judges, however, signed onto an opinion by Judge Barbary Hervey in
support of the court’s order, saying the case is not one of false evidence
“because no evidence of the family’s preference was introduced at trial.” She
said that the prosecutor’s closing argument is not evidence at trial.
Hervey also stated that even if evidence of the Cherrys’ opposition was brought
up at trial it would not change the horrors of the case, also noting that some
jurors cried during Cherry’s wife’s testimony at trial explaining how her
husband's murder impacted her life.
"In light of all of this, it is difficult — if not impossible — to conclude
that the victim’s parents’ general opposition to the death penalty would cast
'the whole case in a different light,'" she wrote.
(source: The Texas Tribune)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Man accused of killing girlfriend could face death penalty
A man who is accused of shooting his girlfriend to death will find out Thursday
if he will face the death penalty.
Khira McKinley’s body was found in a car July 4 on Oakwinds Avenue in north
Charlotte.
(source: WSOC news)
FLORIDA:
New Bill Would Compensate More of Florida's Wrongfully Convicted
Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew Hubert Myers spent more than 4 decades in
prison for a murder they didn't commit.
The men were at a party in Jacksonville in the early hours of May 2, 1976, when
two women in a nearby apartment were shot while they slept. One of the women
died; her partner survived and told police Williams and Myers shot them from
the foot of their bed.
Myers and his uncle were arrested, tried, and convicted on charges of murder
and attempted murder based on testimony from a single witness and despite a
lack of any physical evidence tying the men to the crime.
Myers, who at the time was 18 and had no violent criminal history, was
sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Williams, then 30, was sentenced to death, although the Florida Supreme Court
eventually reversed his sentence to life in prison.
While behind bars, Myers read a Florida Times-Union article about the State
Attorney's Office of the Fourth Judicial District creating a unit that would
review wrongful convictions. He wrote to the office arguing his defense and
pointing out that another man had confessed to the murder.
His appeal for justice worked: In March, Myers and Williams had their sentences
vacated after a case evaluation by the Conviction Integrity Review unit. The
uncle and nephew, now gray-haired, were set free.
Myers qualifies for compensation from the state of Florida under the Victims of
Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act, which grants $50,000 to exonerees for
each year of wrongful incarceration, with a cap of $2 million. But Williams,
under current state law, is not eligible for compensation because of prior
felony convictions.
A newly filed Florida bill won't change that for Williams, but it could for
others like him. State Rep. Bobby DuBose, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, this week
filed a House bill that would remove the "clean hands" provision of the Victims
of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act, which bars compensation for people
who have prior felony convictions. The bill won't be retroactive, DuBose tells
New Times, but he hopes it will right some wrongs moving forward.
"At the end of the day, the fact that the state wronged someone with a prior
conviction doesn't remove our culpability from what we've done," he says.
When the act was signed into law in 2008 with then-Sen. Arthenia Joyner leading
the charge, wrongfully imprisoned people with any previous felony convictions
were exempt from compensation. In 2017, the Florida Legislature unanimously
passed a bill that amended the act to exclude those priorly convicted of only
violent felonies or multiple nonviolent felonies.
Of the 35 states that compensate wrongfully incarcerated people, Florida is the
only one with these caveats. DuBose's bill seeks to eliminate them all. He
believes Williams' case perfectly highlights the need for that.
"When you think about removing someone from their family for 40 years, you're
not just impacting them — you're impacting generations to come," DuBose says.
"This recent case is a good example on why something like this is a bad policy,
and we need to pass this bill to correct that."
About 2,500 people have been exonerated in the United States since 1989,
according to the Innocence Project of Florida. State-specific exoneration
figures are a little unclear. The Death Penalty Information Center maintains a
database of exonerations that includes pardons, acquittals, and dropped
charges. The database counts 29 exonerations in Florida since 1973. The
National Registry of Exonerations, meanwhile, counts 72 exonerations in Florida
since 1989
(source: Miami New Times)
MISSISSIPPI:
Godbolt defense team asks for a later trial date
A Lincoln County circuit judge delayed hearing a motion to reset Willie Cory
Godbolt’s capital murder trial to later next year until he can speak to the
attorney who may be joining the defense team as a replacement.
Judge David Strong said Wednesday he would not hear the motion until he could
talk to public defender Thomas Fortner about his schedule. A date for the next
hearing was not set.
Fortner, a Hattiesburg attorney, could replace former Lincoln County Public
Defender Jason Tate as co-counsel in the case. Tate resigned from the LCPD
office in July.
Allison Steiner with the capital defense counsel division of the state public
defender’s office filed the motion Friday, requesting it be heard Wednesday
when Godbolt would be in court for jury questionnaire discussion. The defendant
is being held in the Copiah County jail.
Godbolt, who is accused of killing eight people in May 2017, sat quietly for
the nine-minute hearing that was also attended by several members of the
victims’ families.
In Steiner’s motion, she argued that Godbolt, an indigent defendant, must be
appointed “a defense team capable of providing effective representation
consistent with the guidelines for such representation.”
She said the Feb. 10, 2020 date, when set by the court, appeared to be a target
they could hit, but now that Tate has left the team, it will be impossible to
find someone with the experience and training required by the Mississippi Rules
of Criminal Procedure to serve as co-counsel in a capital matter who can be
ready in time for trial.
“The circumstance changed materially, however, when Mr. Tate unexpectedly and
without prior notice to the rest of the defense team for Mr. Godbolt, resigned
from his position as a Lincoln County Public Defender and ceased to participate
in Mr. Godbolt’s defense,” she wrote.
When Tate resigned, the defense team filed a motion seeking the appointment of
a qualified and effective co-counsel for the defense since the attorney who
replaced Tate at the LCPD office does not meet the qualifications to serve in a
capital murder case.
The court at that time authorized Steiner to find someone suitable to serve as
co-counsel.
She secured a conditioned agreement from Fortner to accept co-counsel but only
if the trial date can be delayed several months.
She said it was “unreasonable under the circumstances of this case to expect
that any attorney with those capabilities could practically, and even
ethically, agree to take such an appointment with the February 2020 trial date
in place.”
Steiner said while the state may be ready to go forward with the case and the
arrangements have been made for courthouse space in Desoto County for jury
selection, “the constitutions of the United States and Mississippi require that
those understandable interests cannot trump the rights of the defendant to due
process, counsel, compulsory process and to prepare for and present an adequate
defense.”
Steiner said a conviction obtained without the defense given sufficient time to
prepare would not be fair.
In his affidavit filed with the Steiner’s motion, Fortner asked for the case to
be pushed back several months. He is involved with 4 death penalty cases as
either lead or co-counsel, trials in 2 non-death penalty homicide cases and has
obligations with his law practice, he said.
He said after a preliminary review of the state’s case against Godbolt, it is
“impossible to come up to speed as an effective co-counsel in the time
remaining between now and the present trial date, especially since the court
has already determined not to sever the counts for trial purposes. The
indictment includes 12 felony counts, and will involve multiple witnesses both
lay and expert, as to each count. 8 of the counts are homicides occurring at 3
different physical locations with distinct factual circumstances that are
likely to be of significance to both the culpability and if necessary penalty
phases of any trial. The death penalty is being sought in 4 counts, at least 1
count occurring at each of the 3 principal locations. The discovery is also
massive — hours of recorded interviews and statements, huge compilations of
data downloaded from several electronic devices owned by multiple people, and
over 2,300 pages of documents produced to date.”
(source: dailyileader.com)
LOUISIANA:
Public safety emerges as campaign issue in Louisiana governor's race
Halfway into Gov. John Bel Edwards’ 1st term in office, Louisiana shed a
dubious distinction that it had held for nearly 2 decades: The state was no
longer the nation’s prison capital.
Oklahoma took the mantel as the top incarcerating state one year after state
lawmakers, at Edwards’ urging, adopted a landmark, bipartisan criminal justice
overhaul package.
The change will arguably be one of Edwards’ lasting legacies long after he’s
left office, but it’s also providing campaign fodder to his main Republican
rivals in this fall’s gubernatorial race who have questioned whether Louisiana
residents are safer today than they were before Edwards took office and whether
the Edwards administration bungled the criminal justice reform effort.
“We’ve got to implement this in a way so that public safety is issue No. 1,”
said Rep. Ralph Abraham, of Alto.
Baton Rouge businessman Eddie Rispone accused the Democrat incumbent of being
focused on “getting as many people out as possible.” He said, “In doing so,
some people that should not have been released were released. Some dangerous
people."
The Louisiana Legislature has taken no action to significantly change the law
in the past 2 years since its passage, despite some heated rhetoric.
Act 280 allows sentences to be shortened more rapidly for nonviolent,
non-sex-crime offenders who receive credit for good behavior — slashing the
mandatory time served from 40 % of their original sentences to 35 %. The 1st
wave of nearly 2,000 early releases took place on Nov. 1, 2017.
Critics point to at least two who have been accused of murder after receiving
early release and others who have ended up back behind bars for lesser offenses
as possible indicators that the state should be cautious as it continues to
shed inmates.
In both murder cases, offenders records consisted mostly of drug-related
offenses and other non-violent crimes.
Many who have been released under the change get out about 30 to 90 days ahead
of schedule. Some are "released" with outstanding warrants and transferred to
other jurisdictions, so they never technically make it out of custody.
Edwards, whose family has a long history in law enforcement, has defended the
effort.
“The fact of the matter is, in Louisiana for decades, we had the highest
incarceration rate in the nation, but we weren’t safer,” he said. “Our crime
rate was unacceptably high, and the recidivism was too high.”
The election is Oct. 12, with a Nov. 16 runoff between the top 2 vote-getters
if no one gets more than 50% in the 1st round. Early voting runs through Oct.
5.
Just days before voters started to head to the polls for early voting, the FBI
released its latest crime statistics data that showed decreases in violent
crime and murder in Louisiana — murder down by about 8 % and overall violent
crime by 3.4 % from 2017 to 2018.
The FBI report is the 1st that reflects a full year of the 2017 criminal
justice measures.
"The decrease in violent crime reaffirms what Republicans, Democrats, faith
leaders, business leaders and law enforcement officials said at the time of
reform’s passage: we can make our state safer with commonsense reforms that
focus on non-violent offenders and invest in crime prevention," Edwards said in
a statement touting the results.
Aside from disputes over the effectiveness of the 2017 criminal justice law
changes, public safety has prompted a major disagreement among the three
candidates over how they would approach the death penalty.
Edwards has withheld his personal views on capital punishment but said he would
uphold the law that's on the books. While capital punishment is legal in
Louisiana, there have been no executions during Edwards' administration because
the a long legal battle over lethal injections and the state's inability to get
drugs used in executions.
Rispone has said because of his Catholic faith he opposes the death penalty.
Abraham has said he strongly supports the death penalty, would expand it to
convicted child molesters, and consider alternative methods to lethal
injection.
But it's the criminal justice overhaul that has taken the forefront in the
debate over public safety issues in the governor's race.
Advocates who worked across the political spectrum and studied best practices
for more than a year before lawmakers passed their proposal have defended
Edwards against criticisms like Abraham and Rispone’s.
“It’s disappointing to see elected officials and candidates for office using
criminal justice reforms in disingenuous attacks and political ploys,” Daniel
Erspamer, chief executive officer of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy
said in a recent statement. “Today’s political debate offers far too few areas
of consensus, and misleading scare tactics only further undercut opportunities
for meaningful debate and discussion.”
The 10-bill package, which received bipartisan support in both GOP-controlled
chambers of the state Legislature, offers alternatives to prison for people
convicted of less-serious non-violent, non-sex crimes;
“What they tried to implement was a good attempt at criminal justice reform,
but as you get into it you realize we need to do some things that are
different,” Rispone said.
He said he thinks there should be a more holistic approach with a focus on
discouraging people from committing crimes or getting help for people who are
on a bad path. He described criminal backgrounds he has heard about that start
with drug addiction and escalate to theft then robbery and on, all tracking
back to the initial foray into drugs.
“It breaks your heart when you listen to these stories,” he said.
He said he also worries that people are getting out of prison without life
skills they need to prevent them from returning to a life of crime. “Just
locking them up in a cage and hoping that will fix it isn’t working,” Rispone
said.
Abraham said public safety is one of the most pressing issues he hears about
when talking to people in the community.
“Everybody that you talk to now knows someone who has been affected by one of
these early releases,” he said. “People just shake their heads in despair.”
He said he supports efforts to cut the recidivism rate and provide people who
get out of prison with resources needed to become productive citizens.
“I want to make sure that people do understand – for nonviolent criminals, I
want them to become productive members of society,” Abraham said. “But if you
are violent criminal, in a Abraham administration, you will serve every day of
your sentence.”
(source: The Advocate)
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