Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness

Still Having to Apologize for Being a Texan

Frances Newton, 40. Two days left. Take action.

Well, fancy that. Another female death row prisoner scheduled for execution that our Republican governors can mock. Unlike Karla Faye Tucker, however, this one maintains her innocence, had a lawyer who did absolutely no lawyering in her case under the old, shitty indigent defense system, and has been tied to the murder only with outdated tests from a crime lab that's a disaster area. Some highlights from the linked article (Newton is the prisoner, Mock was her criminal defense attorney):

-- Newton said that, in the months leading up to the trial, Mock rarely spoke with her about her case. In a court hearing shortly before the trial, Mock said he had not filed any motions, spoken with any witnesses or submitted a list of possible witnesses to subpoena.

-- Mock told her he had thoroughly investigated the physical and scientific evidence in the case, but later admitted he had not.

-- Mock has been barred from accepting court-appointed capital cases since 2001, when state legislators enacted landmark reforms in the way indigent legal defense is handled in Texas.

-- Court records show that tests also found traces of possible gunpowder on the dress Newton wore. But her attorneys say that may have been garden manure, which, like gunpowder, has nitrates and can trigger a false positive test result. Initial tests on Newton's hands on the night of the crime found no evidence that she had fired a gun, court records show.

-- Prosecutors have opposed requests for new testing on the dress, despite new technology that could differentiate between gunpowder and manure.

Gotta love that last bullet point. We've spent several million dollars in legal appeals and incarceration costs, but a few more thousand to run a simple nitrate test--- fuck that noise! About par for the course. The parting questions: "What does it take to get a Texas death sentence overturned or commuted? What is it going to take to get an Illinois-style moratorium in this miserable rathole?"

I would say a rich, white defendant, but I've never really seen one of those on death row to begin with. I wonder if it's because their attorneys actually file motions? [More info at Talk Left]

Posted by Norbizness at November 29, 2004 12:35 AM