[Cody Dawg]

They are executing a man...because his lawyer didn't file the necessary papers in the correct fashion:

Date Missed, Court Rebuffs Low-I.Q. Man Facing Death

By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: December 17, 2005

Though the Supreme Court has prohibited the execution of the mentally retarded, a Texas death row inmate who may be retarded cannot raise the issue in federal court because his lawyer missed a filing deadline, a federal appeals court ruled this week.

The inmate, Marvin Lee Wilson, has "made a prima facie showing of mental retardation," a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit wrote in an unsigned decision on Tuesday, meaning the court presumed Mr. Wilson to be retarded for purposes of its ruling.

But the panel said it was powerless to consider the case because Mr. Wilson's lawyer filed papers concerning his retardation in a federal trial court without first obtaining required permission from the appeals court, which he did not seek until a deadline had expired.

"However harsh the result may be," the panel said, its hands are tied by deadlines established in a 1996 federal law, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. The same law now forbids Mr. Wilson, convicted of killing a police informant, to appeal the Fifth Circuit's ruling to the Supreme Court.

The Fifth Circuit court, which hears appeals from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, has been frequently criticized by the Supreme Court for its decisions in capital cases. Still, said James W. Marcus, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, the Wilson decision surprised him.

"Executing someone who is categorically exempt from the death penalty," Mr. Marcus said, "would be new ground, even for Texas."

The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing the mentally retarded was unconstitutional. But it gave the states little guidance about how to make that determination.

In Texas, under a 2004 decision of its Court of Criminal Appeals, judges consider three things: whether defendants have "significantly subaverage" intelligence, using "an I.Q. of about 70 or below" as a benchmark; whether they lack fundamental social and practical skills; and whether they can demonstrate that both conditions existed before age 18. Other states look to similar factors, though some use an I.Q. of 75 as a rough cutoff.

At a hearing in state court in 2004, Mr. Wilson's lawyers presented evidence from a psychologist, Donald Trahan, who said Mr. Wilson's I.Q. had most recently been measured at 61. A 1971 test had measured it at 73. In 1987, it was 75.

Dr. Trahan said Mr. Wilson read at a first- or second-grade level, did not understand how bank accounts worked and had trouble with simple financial tasks like making change.

A childhood friend, Walter Kelly, said Mr. Wilson had had difficulty with basic skills as a child.

"He would put on his belt so tight that it would almost cut off his circulation," Mr. Kelly said. "He couldn't even play with simple toys like marbles or tops."

Prosecutors presented no evidence of their own at that hearing. In court papers, they said the nature of Mr. Wilson's crime itself proved that he was not retarded. The Supreme Court's 2002 decision, they wrote, "was never intended to protect capital murderers who commit execution-style killings."

Mr. Wilson, now 47, was convicted in 1998 of kidnapping and killing the police informant, Jerry Williams, in 1992. Information from Mr. Williams had led to Mr. Wilson's arrest for cocaine possession.

In August 2004, Judge Larry Gist of the state district court in Beaumont, Tex., ruled that Mr. Wilson had failed to prove that he was mentally retarded. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed in a three-paragraph decision three months later.

Mr. Wilson's lawyer, Jim Delee, then sought review in the federal courts but became tangled in the procedures and deadlines set out in the 1996 law. The judges who ruled against his client this week were Jacques L. Wiener Jr. and Emilio M. Garza, both appointed to the appeals court by the first President Bush, and W. Eugene Davis, by President Ronald Reagan.

This year the Supreme Court banned the execution of people who were under 18 at the time of their crimes. Mr. Marcus, of the Texas Defender Service, said it would be inconceivable to execute a juvenile offender even if his lawyer failed to raise the issue of his age at the proper time.

"If Mr. Wilson had been 14 years old at the time of the crime but, in the eyes of the court, the issue was raised late, would it be O.K. for Texas to kill him?" Mr. Marcus said. "The question in this case is no different."

So, he is a person who did something heinous, but due process in this situation, which affects his LIFE, is not served because of the mere filing of papers?

This is another reason why the death penalty is obsolete in this country.

This one should bother everyone, not just a few.

[TETENAL]

So you can't be executed when you're mentally retarded, but if you are too stupid to organize a defense team that proves that, you are anyway.

Catch 22.

[Cody Dawg]

Very succinct - and correct!

[isao bered]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

They are executing a man...because his lawyer didn't file the necessary papers in the correct fashion:

<snipped article>

So, he is a person who did something heinous, but due process in this situation, which affects his LIFE, is not served because of the mere filing of papers?

This is another reason why the death penalty is obsolete in this country.

This one should bother everyone, not just a few.

it reads more like a man who kidnapped and executed someone - exacted his revenge, if you will - who informed police of that man's possession of drugs. it certainly sounds like he had enough mental capacity to know what was going on and what he was doing. not to mention two other courts had already ruled he wasn't mentally retarded.

my bolded comment is of specific concern. in the other thread you went on ad nauseum about how horrible it is for the state to seek revenge. yet now we have a specific example of someone acting in complete vengeance, but your waterworks flow for him all the same. where's the over-the-top, passionate rant against this mans vengeant heart?

be well.

laeth

[Cody Dawg]

The issue isn't the man per se - but it does involve POLICY.

Since when is a person's life worth as little as filing a piece of paperwork in the correct fashion?

This is just more of the everyones-life-is-easily-expendable mentality so prevalent in this country.

[isao bered]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

The issue isn't the man per se - but it does involve POLICY.

Since when is a person's life worth as little as filing a piece of paperwork in the correct fashion?

This is just more of the everyones-life-is-easily-expendable mentality so prevalent in this country.

oh. okay. we can play this game, but neither one of us will win it because you approach the matter almost soley from feelings and i give greater weight to other considerations. anyhow...

since when is a person's life worth as little as a few grams of cocaine?

you complain of lack of due process. in fact, there was due process and the lawyer failed to follow it. two other courts had already ruled and the last apparently could not rule because it was not presented in a timely fashion.

there was no due process in the execution of the informant, though, was there. you seem to operate under a mentality of "the victims life is easily expendable". does this not even allow you to consider that a self-endorsed executioner should likely forfeit his own life for the one he takes. the executioner did not cherish "life" so much that it prevented him from murdering, yet we are supposed to cherish his. and since it seems that you may spend 90% or more of your energy in this thread decrying the criminal, allow me to counterbalance your next 10 posts now:

jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.

be well.

laeth

[Artful Dodger]

He obviously doesn't deserve to live. I mean, what a lazy bastard. Not a single children's book to his name. That's regrettable, I was hoping to enlighten my 3 year old with some more death row wisdom.

On a serious note, Cody, I feel sorry for this guy because his lawyer is/was negligent. He is at least entitled to an opportunity. There are needs for deadlines. Without them, the system would be even more f-up.

[Y3a]

And saving a retarded murderer is good because?

[Y3a]

Double post...........When Are they REALLY GONNA FIX THAT??

[Cody Dawg]

Exactly, Artful Dodger. You're right: His attorney was a lame ass who cost him his life, perhaps, most certainly another review and a closer myopic look at the process.

Anyway, I've got to get a drink...my left wing liberal rants are freaking me out.

[ReggieX]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Anyway, I've got to get a drink...my left wing liberal rants are freaking me out.

Smoke some pot instead!

[The Godfather]

The lawyer should be fired, disbarred, reimburse his pay, and pay for malpractice.

Hopefully the court will grant an extension of some sort.

I still think the death penalty is an adequate penalty in some cases.

[selowitch]

The death penalty is so abhorrent. I think the practice diminishes humanity and gives too much power to the state.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Exactly, Artful Dodger. You're right: His attorney was a lame ass who cost him his life, perhaps, most certainly another review and a closer myopic look at the process.

Anyway, I've got to get a drink...my left wing liberal rants are freaking me out.

I'm against the DP as well. So don't feel so bad.

[macsfromnowon]

I don't get it. What do Texas happenings have to do with THIS country?

[ Remember: Texas justice is to justice as military music is to music. ]

[iDriveX]

Can the lawyer be sued by the family of the criminal in a civil case for Wrongful Death and collect damages because he was at least indirectly responsible for the death of the criminal?

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by iDriveX

Can the lawyer be sued by the family of the criminal in a civil case for Wrongful Death and collect damages because he was at least indirectly responsible for the death of the criminal?

Wrongful death, incompetence, etc. should be a slam dunk lawsuit for the guy's family. The biggest problem with most Texas capital cases is that many defense lawyers are so hugely incompetent that you wonder why the judge let them stay in his courtroom. An attorney shouldn't SLEEP through his death-peanalty-eligible client's trial. An attorney should show himself to be at least as smart as your basic high school senior and organize his work so that he meets deadlines. An attorney should diligently pursue an investigation of his client's alleged crime and find whatever he can that might oint toward innocence, is extenuating, esculpatory, or simply out of the ordinary in the police and prosecution's handling of the case. I think instead of having so bloody many lawyers in Texas, we should have a much smaller number of attorneys busting their butts to get clients the best possible defense.

Originally Posted by isao bered

jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.
jerry williams is the victim.

be well.

laeth

[Rolling Bones]

If They would just shoot these people square in the back of the head a few days after sentencing this kind of injustice wouldn't happen.

[Buckaroo]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

They are executing a man...because his lawyer didn't file the necessary papers in the correct fashion:



So, he is a person who did something heinous, but due process in this situation, which affects his LIFE, is not served because of the mere filing of papers?

This is another reason why the death penalty is obsolete in this country.

This one should bother everyone, not just a few.

It's a shame. He should have been executed 2 years after being convicted. What a waste of time. He's not menatally retarded. He was smart enough to figure out he had to kill a police informant.

Lets get this one over with quickly. Do it tonight.

[wdlove]

I feel sorry for the victims.