USA NEWS

CALIFORNIA – Supreme Court Denies Death Row Inmate’s Request for New Attorneys

Kenneth Clair

March 5, 2012

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a California death row inmate cannot have his conviction overturned because he disagreed with the defense strategy his attorneys used.

The case appears to limit the control of defendants over their attorneys’ tactics.

The defendant was Kenneth Clair, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1987 for burglary and murder.

He was represented by court-appointed attorneys because Clair could not afford to hire his own.

After Clair was convicted, his attorneys filed appeals and petitions of habeas corpus arguing their client should not be sentenced to death.

Clair said they should have been trying to appeal his conviction by arguing he was innocent of burglary and murder.

In 2005, he filed a petition to change federal public defenders.

A federal judge denied his request. However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court judge’s decision.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided unanimously that the Court of Appeals was incorrect.

Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote the court’s decision, said Clair waited too long to change attorneys. The judge in his case was two weeks away from ruling on his habeas corpus petition.

Habeas corpus refers to a request for a ruling that a defendant has been wrongfully convicted.

Kagan said Clair’s petition for new attorneys should be decided under the “interests of justice” standard.

The standard uses a test that balances factors such as whether defendants might lose their liberty, livelihoods, suffer damage to their reputations and a substantial question of law is presented.

Attorneys for California said a different standard should be used. They said Clair could be granted new attorneys only if he proved he was denied adequate representation by his court-appointed attorneys.

Kagan said California’s argument was unpersuasive.

“The state acknowledges, this test comes from … well, from nowhere,” Kagan wrote. “Inventiveness is often an admirable quality, but here we think the state overdoes it.”

The dispute arose after Clair complained in a letter to the court that his attorneys were ignoring evidence found by his prosecutor that might show he was innocent.

They should have been using the evidence to appeal his conviction, he said.

Instead, they continued arguing he should not be given the death penalty.

Initially, Clair and his attorneys reached an agreement and the defendant dropped his complaint. Later, the same dispute arose, prompting Clair to write a second letter to the court saying he wanted different attorneys.

When the second request was denied, Clair appealed, eventually reaching the Supreme Court.

The court’s decision Monday said Clair waited too long.

“The court received Clair’s second letter while putting the finishing touches on its denial of his habeas petition,” Kagan wrote. “The case was all over but the deciding; counsel, whether old or new, could do nothing more in the trial court proceedings. At that point and in that forum, Clair’s conflict with his lawyers no longer mattered. … The court was not required to appoint a new lawyer just so Clair could file a futile motion.”

Although the California attorney general won on most of his arguments, the Supreme Court’s frustration with the procedures followed in the case was obvious during oral arguments.

California’s deputy attorney general, Ward Campbell, argued that the “interests of justice” standard was the wrong way to determine whether criminal defendants should be granted new attorneys.

The standard made it too easy for defendants to delay proceedings against them by filing a complaint against their attorneys, he said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked whether California’s attorney general was using a different test she described as a “sort of a made-up standard.”

She also asked, “Can you point to one case in which this standard has been used by any district court or court of appeals?”

Campbell replied, “No, I cannot.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked, “Where did you get it from?”

Campbell replied that it was derived from Supreme Court interpretations of the Sixth Amendment’s right to representation by counsel.

source : Article © AHN

TEXAS – Appeal of Death Row Case Is More Than a Matter of Guilt or Innocence

No one saw Rob Will shoot and kill Harris County Deputy Sheriff Barrett Hill in the still-black morning hours in a Houston bayou on Dec. 4, 2000. No physical evidence linked him to the murder.

http://www.freerobwill.org/

Mr. Will, now on death row, said that he is innocent, but that he has been represented by ineffective lawyers. He has a new lawyer who faces the daunting challenge of representing Mr. Will at this late stage in his appeals.

Witnesses have testified that another man confessed to Deputy Hill’s murder. But in a January ruling, Judge Keith Ellison of United States District Court lamented that even though he was concerned Mr. Will could be innocent, he had to deny his motion for a new trial.

“The questions raised during post-judgment factual development about Will’s actual innocence create disturbing uncertainties,” he wrote. “Federal law does not recognize actual innocence as a mechanism to overturn an otherwise valid conviction.”

Mr. Will’s best chance for a new trial may lie with an Arizona case that the United States Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on. States across the country are anxiously awaiting the ruling, which could establish that defendants have a constitutional right to adequate appellate lawyers. For some states, that could require major spending on court-appointed lawyers for thousands of convicts.

full article

source : New York times.march 10,2012

Texas Tribune

MISSISSIPPI – Larry Matthew Puckett, march 20, 2012 – EXECUTED

The FACTS from court documents.

LARRY MATTHEW PUCKETT v STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

On October 14, 1995, shortly before 5:00 p.m., Mrs. Rhonda Hatten Griffis, age 28, was found lying in a large pool of blood next to the couch in the living room of her home on 198Sunrise Road, Petal, Mississippi. Mrs. Griffis was found wearing a t-shirt, and the only clothing on the lower part of her body was around her left foot. She had several gashes on the back of her head. There were other injuries to Mrs. Griffis’ head, back, and chest, including a deep laceration and three to four hesitation marks to the neck. She was also bleeding from her vagina. She had several defensive wounds on her hands, arms, and elbows. Mrs. Griffis died as a result of the injuries; the cause of death was cranial cerebral trauma, secondary to blunt force trauma. A wooden stick or club covered with blood was recovered outside the residence.

Rhonda’s mother, Nancy Hatten, lived next door, roughly 150-175 feet from the Griffis’ trailer. On the day of the murder, Mrs. Hatten helped Rhonda’s boys, Justin, age 7, and Jeffrey, age 5, put up Halloween decorations in the yard. Rhonda was not feeling well that day, suffering from a headache and bad sinus problems. Later that afternoon, Mrs. Hattenwas in her front yard when she heard a “scream and a thud” come from the Griffis’ trailer. Mrs. Hatten then ran home and telephoned the trailer. The phone rang four or five times, but there was no answer. Mrs. Hatten hung up and dialed again, but there was still no answer. She then immediately went to the trailer.

As Mrs. Hatten neared the trailer, she saw David Griffis, Rhonda’s husband, and their two boys driving up to the trailer. David had been hauling pine straw all day and was returning with his last load. A blue truck was parked in the vacant lot beside the residence. Nancy entered the trailer door at the kitchen/dining room area and called for Rhonda but there was no answer. Puckett came from the hallway into the kitchen/dining area and raised a club back and started towards Nancy. As Nancy backed away from Puckett, Jeffrey entered the house followed closely by David. Justin was still outside. Nancy then took the children, ran to her house, locked the boys in the bathroom, and called 911. This 911 call was received by the 911 system at 5:01:15 p.m. and answered by the 911 operator at 5:01:20 p.m. At 5:01:41 p.m., Nancy was placed on hold, as 911 received a call from the Griffis’ trailer. Mrs. Hatten identified State’s Exhibit Number 3 as the club that Puckett had in his hand in the trailer.by  The Griffis family knew Puckett because he was once employed  While Puckett was employed by David, the employees would gather at the Griffis’ house before leaving for work.

Jeffrey Griffis testified that when he entered the home, he saw Puckett with a club in his hand and holding on to Mrs. Hatten’s shirt. David Griffis testified that when he entered the home, he saw Mrs. Hatten with Puckett standing in front of her with the club in his hand raised over his head. David indicated that Puckett was wearing army-type coveralls. The club had blood and a white substance on it. David asked Puckett what he was doing in his house and Puckett said he had hit a deer on the road and came to get David’s help and to 4 use the telephone. David called out for Rhonda but no one answered. However, Puckett told David that Rhonda was down at her mother’s house. David asked Puckett about the blood on the club and Puckett indicated that it was blood from the deer. David then dialed 911 from a portable phone that was laying on the counter beside him. This 911 call was received by the 911 system at 5:01:27 p.m. and answered by the 911 operator at 5:01:41 p.m. This (David’s) call was terminated at 5:04:42 p.m. At some point, David and Puckett struggled and David got the club from Puckett. David tried to keep Puckett in the trailer until the police arrived. However, Puckett took off running towards the door. As Puckett was running for the door, David swung the club and hit Puckett on the shoulder. Then, as Puckett ran out the door, David threw the club at him. Dr. Michael West testified at trial that the club, State’s Exhibit 3, was consistent with the wound pattern found on Puckett’s back.

Once Puckett exited the trailer, David entered the living room and reached for his pistol that was usually on a gun cabinet just to the left of the living room door. However, the pistol was not there. David did not see Rhonda’s body lying in the living room at this time. David then ran into the bedroom to retrieve a rifle from the bedroom closet. The bedroomdoor is straight ahead as you turn towards the cabinet. As David exited the bedroom and re-entered the living room, he then saw Rhonda laying on the floor. He saw that Rhonda was injured and dialed 911 again to inform the police. David’s second 911 call wasreceived by the 911 system at 5:05:01 p.m. and was answered by the 911 operator at 5:05:07 p.m. This call was terminated at 5:11:45 p.m. The time between the end of David’s first 911 call and the beginning of his second 911 call was 18 seconds. Sheriff’s deputies and paramedics arrived within minutes.

Before David fired Puckett, David considered him to be a decent employee and even wrote a letter of recommendation for Puckett to become an Eagle Scout. Another former employer of Puckett’s, Ray Watkins, testified that shortly before Rhonda’s murder, a maul handle was broken at his work site. Watkins had the maul handle for several years,between seven (7) and ten (10) years, and believed the maul handle to be State’s Exhibit No. 3. Watkins also testified that he had seen the handle in Puckett’s truck on several occasions.

Puckett was seen around 3:30 p.m. the afternoon of the murder at the same house from which David Griffis was collecting pine straw. Puckett’s blue 4-wheel drive truck was alsoseen passing the Griffis’ residence at approximately 4:41 p.m.

Puckett’s truck was recovered the next night in a wooded area in Perry County. On October 16, 1995, Puckett was apprehended near his mother’s home in Perry County. At the time of his arrest, Puckett nervously commented to his mother that “[t]his is a lot of law enforcement for somebody who just committed a burglary.” A duffle bag containing various items including a pair of coveralls was recovered from Puckett at the time of his arrest.

5.Puckett did not deny being in the trailer at the time of the murder, but testified that he witnessed David Griffis murder his wife. He indicated that he had originally planned only to burglarize the house in order to find money to pay his truck note. He stated that the idea to burglarize the house just popped into his head at the time he went by the Griffis’ house. Puckett testified that he parked his truck in a vacant lot beside the Griffis’ trailer and put his coveralls on. Puckett saw Rhonda’s car at the trailer, but proceeded to the door anyway and knocked. Puckett said that Rhonda let him in and they began to talk. Puckett said that he saw the stick (State’s Exhibit No. 3) lying on the living room floor. He stated that he and Rhonda began kissing and he then began acting out his sexual fantasy of undressing a woman while he remained fully clothed. He said that Rhonda then saw her mother approaching the trailer, grabbed her clothes and ran into the bedroom, and told Puckett to get rid of her mother. Puckett said heran into the dining room area and had picked up the stick and decided to scare Mrs. Hatten away with the club. Puckett further stated that after Mrs. Hatten fled with the children, David accused Rhonda of sleeping with Puckett and began hitting her with the stick that David took from Puckett. After beating his wife, David struggled to keep Puckett in the trailer, but Puckett was able to escape while David was calling 911. At trial, Puckett indicated the whole incident took four or five minutes. Puckett said he hid in the woods for two days because he was afraid of David.

Update : march 20, source :http://www.wlbt.com

Advocacy group calls for clemency in Puckett execution

watch the video click  here

Update : march 19,2012 source : http://www.wtok.com

Group Protests Executions
Jackson, Miss.
A group that opposes the death penalty protested two executions scheduled in Mississippi this week.

Thousands of people have signed an online petition seeking to block the execution of death row inmate, Larry Matthew Puckett.

He is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Puckett was convicted of sexually assaulting and killing his former boss’ wife when he was 18 years old.

His lawyers petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court last week to block the execution.

A group opposed to capital punishment spoke out Monday at the state capitol.

Mississippians Educating for Smart Justice want Gov. Phil Bryant to grant clemency to Puckett, as well as condemned killer, William Mitchell, who is also scheduled for execution this week.

“Neither of these men, William Mitchell or Matt Puckett, have had a fair trial,” said attorney Jim Craig. “Neither of them have had a real appeal. It’s time to quit hiding behind this fraud and accept the fact that our system is deeply flawed. And these two cases prove it.”

As of Monday, there were nearly 4500 electronic signatures on a petition called ‘Save Matt Puckett: stop an innocent man from being executed.’

Update : march, 15, 2012 source  : http://www.sunherald.com

JACKSON — A Mississippi prison inmate has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block his execution Tuesday based on the argument that his lawyers didn’t do a good job and prosecutors discriminated against blacks during jury selection.

Larry Matthew Puckett is scheduled to receive a lethal injection for the 1995 sexual assault and beating death of Rhonda Hatten Griffis of Forrest County. His lawyers filed the request Wednesday to block the execution.

March, 16,2012 : Jamie Arpin-Ricci  Author & pastor, Little Flowers Community talks about matthew’s innocence

[…]In less than a week another friend of mine, Matt, is going to be dead — killed as surely and finally as the other two. I will not see his death, but because the setting of his death is determined (and by some, celebrated) I am already haunted by the images of him dying. It has not happened yet, but I feel as powerless to prevent his death as I am with the others.

You see, my friend Matthew Puckett is being executed by the state of Mississippi on Tuesday, March 20. Matthew has been tried and convicted of a brutal murder. Doubtless there are those who believe that deserves this end and will take great joy when his sentence is carried out. I am not one of those people.

While I know many of my fellow Christians do not agree with me on this point, my faith makes it impossible to condone capital punishment. I will not attempt to argue that position here, for there isn’t the space nor is it the primary point. Whether you believe in the death penalty or not, what I hope we can agree on is that, should we use this form of punishment, we had better be damn sure there is no question of their guilt. As I look at Matt’s case, there are simply far too many uncertainties to make such a sentence acceptable.

I believe that Matthew Puckett is innocent. For those not convinced, I hope that you will examine his case and recognize that he was not given the kind of justice our society boasts as being the right of every person. Given that reality, I ask that you consider signing this petition to save Matt’s life and/or contacting Mississippi’s governor, Phil Bryant, and ask for a stay. Allow Matt at least the chance to live his life, even if behind bars.

read full article

Supreme Court of United States

No. 11-6550      *** CAPITAL CASE ***
Title:
Larry Matthew Puckett, Petitioner
v.
Christopher B. Epps, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections
Docketed: September 26, 2011
Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  Case Nos.: (09-70032)
  Decision Date: May 19, 2011
  Rehearing Denied: June 22, 2011
~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings  and  Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sep 19 2011 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due October 26, 2011)
Nov 2 2011 Order extending time to file response to petition to and including November 28, 2011.
Nov 28 2011 Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including December 1, 2011.
Dec 8 2011 Brief of respondent Christopher B. Epps, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections in opposition filed.
Dec 9 2011 Order extending time to file response to petition to and including December 8, 2011.
Dec 14 2011 Reply of petitioner Larry Matthew Puckett filed.
Dec 22 2011 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of January 13, 2012.
Jan 4 2012 Record Requested .
Jan 13 2012 Record received from the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (one envelope).
Jan 23 2012 Record received from United States District Court Southern District of Mississippi (two boxes).
Jan 26 2012 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of February 17, 2012.
Feb 21 2012 Petition DENIED.
~~Name~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~Address~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~Phone~~~
Attorneys for Petitioner:
Keir Michael Weyble Cornell Law School (607) 255-3805
    Counsel of Record 103 Myron Taylor Hall
Ithaca, NY  14853
Party name: Larry Matthew Puckett
Sheryl Bey 4268 I-55 North (601) 351-2400
Meadowbrook Office Park (39211)
P. O. Box 14167
Jackson, MS  39236
Party name: Larry Matthew Puckett
Attorneys for Respondent:
Marvin L. White Jr. Assistant Attorney General (601) 359-3680
    Counsel of Record 450 High Street
P.O. Box 220
Jackson, MS  39205
Party name: Christopher B. Epps, Commissioner, Mississippi Department of Corrections

Supreme Court, state case 

On November 5, 2009, Puckett filed an appeal with the Fifth Circuit over the denial of his habeas petition in Federal District Court.

On May 19, 2011, the Fifth Circuit affirmed Puckett’s death sentence.

Petition 

North Carolina’s death penalty debate

Viewpoint: Los Angeles Times

The machinery of death is ripping itself to chunks in North Carolina. Would that this would happen in more places — like, say, California.

Conservatives and prosecutors in the Tarheel State are up in arms over a 2009 law that allows death row inmates to reduce their sentences to life without parole if they can prove racial bias in sentencing or jury selection — even if the bias wasn’t directed at them but at others. In other words, if convicts can show a statistical pattern of racial bias statewide, they can use it as evidence that their own trial may have been skewed. And they don’t have to be minorities to appeal; a white inmate who can show excessive dismissal of black potential jurors might be able to dodge the executioner.

Opponents of the law are calling it a backdoor way to end the death penalty, and they’re probably not wrong. That’s because it’s not going to be very hard for inmates to demonstrate racial bias. A Michigan State University study found that, between 1990 and 2010, North Carolina prosecutors dismissed black potential jurors at twice the rate of nonblacks in death penalty cases.

But it’s not an ideal solution. The approach is laden with complications and, moreover, North Carolina has a potential nightmare brewing: Because the sentence of life without parole didn’t exist there before 1994, it’s possible that inmates sentenced before then who successfully overturn their death sentences could be set free.

The better way? Borrow a page from Illinois, New Mexico and other states that have done away with the death penalty and replaced it with life without parole.

Capital punishment imposes ruinous costs on states, it can’t be reversed if an inmate is later exonerated, it’s highly questionable whether it can be carried out in a humane manner, and it protects society from killers no better than putting them away for life. As for the possibility of racial bias in sentencing, there probably isn’t a reliable way to eliminate it. North Carolina is going through the back door when, with more honesty and fewer complications, it could go through the front.

BARTOW – Jury votes in favor of death penalty for convicted McCloud

Jury recommends death for McCloud in home invasion

Robert “Bam” McCloud sat down in a chair.

He shook his head slightly as 12 jurors revealed Friday that a majority, 8-4, thought he should die. He wiped away a tear then let out a deep breath.

At trial, McCloud testified that he didn’t go along with the robbery crew and was later pressured by investigators to say he was present.

She mentioned that three accomplices took plea deals for punishments ranging from 10 years to 15 years in prison.

Meeks suggested one of the other men was the killer.

“The state wants you to recommend the death penalty for Bob McCloud,” she said. “That’s not justice. That’s not fair and impartial justice.”

Jurors spent about 2 1/2 hours deliberating before reaching a decision.

Earlier this week, the 30-year-old Apopka man was found guilty of participating in a 2009 home invasion robbery in Poinciana where two bystanders were fatally shot, execution-style, in the back of the head.

The same jury was asked to recommend an appropriate punishment: life imprisonment or execution.

Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen must give their recommendation great weight.

The judge will review additional evidence and listen to more arguments at another hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Outside the courtroom, McCloud’s wife, Shawana, and his mother-in-law, Dora Norman, didn’t wish to comment and left the courthouse in tears.

Read more : News chief 


US – Wrongful convictions should bring maximum compensation, judge rules

Wrongful convictions should bring maximum compensation, judge rules.

Three men who were wrongfully convicted of murdering an alleged crack dealer near Westwego in 1992 are entitled to the maximum $250,000 in compensation allowed by law for the years they spent in prison, a state judge ruled Thursday. Glenn Davis of Marrero, Larry Delmore Jr. of New Orleans and Terrence Meyers of Avondale, all about 40 years old, spent up to almost 16 years in prison for their second-degree murder convictions in the Aug. 3, 1992, death of Samuel George, 34, who was gunned down while standing at Cabildo Lane and East Claiborne Parkway.

Davis would be entitled to $344,792 for the 13 years and 9 1/2 months he spent in prison, Murphy found. Delmore and Meyers were imprisoned 15 years and two months, for a total of $379,167, Murphy ruled.

I ask you: does 250’00 dollars can they make up 13 years of life lost? I do not think money can give 13 years of a life, you can not buy a ”miscarriage of justice”. They can not redeem the pain of being an innocent man in prison, and scars inside that person will keep forever

Review: Werner Herzog’s ‘On Death Row’ on the cable tv

Werner Herzog’s ‘On Death Row,’ an Investigation Discovery companion series to his film ‘Into the Abyss,’ is thought-provoking.

Unlike many a modern filmmaker, compelled to excavate the intimate and even mundane for life’s meaning, German director Werner Herzog believes in extremes. During his impressively prolific career, he has consistently sought out the outcasts and the heroes, the misfits and prophets, the dreamers of fevered and spectacular dreams. The subjects of his 25 feature-length documentaries include a deaf and blind woman, a freestyle mountain climber, the lone survivor of an airplane crash and a man who lived with grizzlies. Indeed, within Herzog’s remarkable canon, a multi-platform documentary about death row inmates seems almost mainstream.

During the interviews, Barnes is well-spoken yet strangely detached, acknowledging his actions and his subsequent remorse in tones that suggest they were the experiences of another person. Even the news that Herzog has managed to contact Barnes’ long-estranged father is greeted with a disturbingly placid mien.

When: 7 and 10 p.m. Friday

Rating: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14)

source : Los Angeles Times

ARIZONA – Robert Towery was executed

12 news HD live http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

Towery, 38, was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m., nine minutes after the lethal-injection procedure began at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence.

Towery’s execution came just eight days after Arizona executed another inmate, Robert Moormann, for killing and dismembering his mother 28 years ago.

Wednesday night, Towery was served a last meal of porterhouse steak, baked potato with sour cream, asparagus, mushrooms, clam chowder, milk, Pepsi and apple pie a la mode.

The execution began at 11:17 a.m. Towery looked to his family and attorneys. In his last words, he apologized to his family and to the victims. He talked about bad choices he had made. Then he said, as he appeared to be crying, “I love my family. Potato, potato, potato.”

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/03/08/20120308arizona-execution-robert-charles-towery.html#ixzz1ocPWqmXU

Last Meal Request

  •  Porterhouse steak
  • Sauteed mushrooms
  • Baked potato with butter and sour cream
  • Steamed asparagus
  • Clam chowder
  • Pepsi
  • Milk
  • Apple pie with vanilla ice cream

Supreme Court of United states

No. 11-9089      *** CAPITAL CASE ***
Title:
Robert Charles Towery, Petitioner
v.
Charles L. Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al.
Docketed: March 6, 2012
Linked with 11A840
Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  Case Nos.: (12-15071)
  Decision Date: February 27, 2012
  Rehearing Denied: February 29, 2012
Discretionary Court
  Decision Date: January 10, 2012
~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings  and  Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mar 6 2012 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due April 5, 2012)
Mar 6 2012 Application (11A840) for a stay of execution of sentence of death, submitted to Justice Kennedy.
Mar 6 2012 Brief of respondent Charles L. Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al. in opposition filed.
Mar 6 2012 Response to application from respondent Charles L. Ryan, Director, Arizona Department of Corrections, et al. filed.
Mar 7 2012 Reply of petitioner Robert Charles Towery filed.
Mar 7 2012 Application (11A840) referred to the Court.
Mar 7 2012 Application (11A840) denied by the Court.
Mar 7 2012 Petition DENIED.

Texas – Keith Thurmond declared, “I didn’t kill my wife. … I swear to God I didn’t kill her.”

His execution for the 2001 slayings near Houston came about an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected arguments to halt the capital punishment, the third this year in Texas.

The 52-year-old Thurmond was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. — 11 minutes after lethal drugs began flowing into his arms.

With his death nearing Wednesday, Thurmond blamed the shooting deaths on another man before telling prison officials, “Go ahead and finish it off.”

As the drugs began flowing, he said, “You can taste it.” He wheezed and snored before losing consciousness.

Last Statement:

All I want to say is I’m innocent, I didn’t kill my wife. Jack Leary shot my wife then her dope dealer Guy Fernandez. Don’t hold it against me, Bill. I swear to God I didn’t kill her. Go ahead and finish it off. You can taste it.

Related articles

TEXAS – Keith Thurmond – EXECUTED

keith Steven Thurmond was pronounced dead at 6:22 PM CST at Huntsville, Texas, executed for murdering his estranged wife, Sharon, and her boyfriend, Guy Fernandez. Strapped on the Gurney in the execution chamber, Thurmond denied killing his wife, although he murdered her in the presence of the couple’s 8-year-old son

If his loved ones are typical, they are re now rushing to the funeral parlor where his body has been sent so they may touch it while it is still warm. The custom stems from the fact that, once a prisoner enters death row, he is permitted no physical contact with is family. In Thurmond’s case, that was about a decade ago.

Suprem court of United States 

No. 11-9083      *** CAPITAL CASE ***
Title:
Keith Thurmond, Petitioner
v.
Texas
Docketed: March 5, 2012
Linked with 11A839
Lower Ct: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
  Case Nos.: (WR-62,425-01, and WR-62,425-02)
  Decision Date: February 29, 2012
~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings  and  Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mar 5 2012 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due April 4, 2012)
Mar 5 2012 Application (11A839) for a stay of execution of sentence of death, submitted to Justice Scalia.
Mar 6 2012 Brief of respondent in opposition filed.
Mar 6 2012 Reply of petitioner Keith Thurmond filed.
Mar 7 2012 Application (11A839) referred to the Court.
Mar 7 2012 Petition DENIED.
Mar 7 2012 Application (11A839) denied by the Court.

Last News from execution watch : NO WORD FROM HIGH COURT ON THURMOND STAY

I just fielded a news call on whether the Supreme Court has ruled on Keith Thurmond’s request for a stay of tonight’s execution. I had to tell them, “No news yet.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an emergency request from Keith Thurmond to stop the State of Texas from executing him tonight.

Last-minute requests like this from Texas are routinely considered by Justice Antonin Scalia, though he has the option to poll the full court.

Thurmond, who was denied any federal appeals because his lawyer missed a deadline, is slated to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. in the shooting deaths of his estranged wife and her new boyfriend a decade ago.

If the execution goes through as planned, Execution Watch will provide live coverage and commentary to inform listeners of the realities, versus the cliches, of the Texas death penalty.

The broadcast will be at 6 p.m. Central Time on nonprofit FM station KPFT 90.1 in Houston and online at http://executionwatch.org/ > Listen.

The execution will be the 480th in Texas since 1982 and the 241st since Rick Perry became governor. Perry has already presided over more than 50 percent of all Texas executions in the modern era.

source : execution watch.org