DOCSLIB.ORG

In the Supreme Court of the United States

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
In the Supreme Court of the United States CAPITAL CASE No. 19-_____ In the Supreme Court of the United States RODNEY REED, Petitioner, v. Texas, Respondent. On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI BARRY C. SCHECK BRYCE BENJET Counsel of Record CLIFF C. GARDNER [email protected] ROBERT A. WEBER [email protected] MICHELLE L. DAVIS THE INNOCENCE PROJECT NICOLE A. DISALVO 40 Worth St., Ste. 701 JULIANA R. VAN HOEVEN New York, NY 10013 SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, (212) 364-5980 MEAGHER & FLOM LLP 920 N. King St. ANDREW F. MACRAE Wilmington, DE 19801 LEVATINO|PACE PLLC (302) 651-3000 1101 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. Building K, Ste. 125 Austin, TX 78746 (512) 637-8565 i CAPITAL CASE QUESTIONS PRESENTED Question Presented No. 1 At Rodney Reed’s capital murder trial, the victim’s fiancé, Jimmy Fennell, was a key witness for the prosecution. Years later, Reed discovered that Fennell (a prime suspect in the murder) made a prior inconsistent statement to a sheriff’s officer about his activities the night of the murder. Fennell was subpoenaed to testify at a state habeas hearing on Reed’s claim that the inconsistent statement was suppressed in violation of Brady v. Maryland. At the hearing, Fennell invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege and refused to testify, preventing Reed from confronting a key trial witness about the suppressed exculpatory evidence. In denying Reed’s Brady claim, the Texas courts made no mention of Fennell’s appearance at the hearing or his invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege and refusal to testify. The first question presented is: When assessing under the Brady materiality standard whether “disclosure of the suppressed evidence to competent counsel would have made a different result reasonably probable,”1 how should a court consider the impact of a key trial witness’s assertion of the privilege against self-incrimination and refusal to testify when confronted with the suppressed exculpatory evidence? 1 Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 441 (1995). ii Question Presented No. 2: At Reed’s 1998 capital murder trial, the State relied on the opinions of three forensic experts as its central evidence of Reed’s guilt. In the proceedings below, Reed raised a Due Process claim supported by evidence that the State’s experts or their employing agency had retracted or modified their opinions implicating Reed because the opinions offered at trial were scientifically invalid. The second question presented is: When expert testimony relied on by the State in a criminal trial is later shown to be scientifically invalid, what is the appropriate standard to assess whether the State’s use of scientifically invalid expert testimony was in violation of Due Process? Question Presented No. 3: Does the conviction or execution of a person who is actually innocent of the crime violate the United States Constitution? iii PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS BELOW The petition arises from a state habeas corpus proceeding in which Petitioner, Rodney Reed, sought relief from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. LIST OF RELATED PROCEEDINGS Reed v. Goertz, No. 1:19-cv-00794-LY (W.D. Tex.) (filed Aug. 8, 2019) State v. Reed, No. 8701 (Texas 21st District May 29, 1998) (ORDER ON CONVICTION AND SENTENCE OF DEATH) Ex parte Rodney Reed, No. 8701 (Texas 21st District May 27, 1999) (ORDER) Reed v. State, No. 73,135 (Tex. Crim. App. Dec. 6, 2000), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 955 (2001) Ex parte Rodney Reed, Nos. 50-961-01, 50,961-02 (Tex. Crim. App. Feb. 13, 2002) (ORDER) (Per curiam) Ex parte Rodney Reed, Nos. 50-961-03 (Tex. Crim. App. Oct. 19, 2005) (Per curiam) Ex parte Rodney Reed, 271 S.W.3d 698 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) Ex parte Rodney Reed, Nos. 50-961-04, 50-961-05 (Tex. Crim. App. Jan. 14, 2009) (Per curiam) Ex parte Rodney Reed, No. 50-961-06 (Tex. Crim. App. July 1, 2009) (Per curiam) iv Reed v. Thaler, No. A-02-CV-142-LY (W.D. Tex. June 15, 2012) (REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE) Reed v. Thaler, No. A-02-CV-142-LY (W.D. Tex. Sept. 26, 2012) (ORDER ON REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION), aff’d, Reed v. Stephens, 739 F.3d 753 (5th Cir. 2014) Reed v. Stephens, 739 F.3d 753 (5th Cir. 2014), r’hearing denied, (5th Cir. Mar. 14, 2014), cert. denied, 135 S.Ct. 435 (2014) State v. Reed, No. 8701 (Texas 21st District Nov. 25, 2014) (TRANSCRIPT) State v. Reed, No. 8701 (Texas 21st District Dec. 12, 2014) (FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW) Ex parte Rodney Reed, No. 50-961-07 (Tex. Crim. App. Feb. 23, 2015) (ORDER ENTERING STAY OF EXECUTION) (Per curiam) Reed v. State, No. AP-77054 (Tex. Crim. App. June 29, 2016) (ORDER FOR REMAND) (Per curiam) Reed v. State, 541 S.W.3d 759 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017), cert. denied, 138 S.Ct. 2675 (2018) Ex parte Rodney Reed, Nos. 50-961-07, 50,961-08 (Tex. Crim. App. May 17, 2017) (ORDER) (Per curiam) Ex parte Rodney Reed, No. 50-961-08, Trial Court Cause No. 8701 (Texas 21st District Jan. 8, 2018) (ORDER) v Ex parte Rodney Reed, No. 50-961-08, Trial Court Cause No. 8701 (Texas 21st District Jan. 8, 2018) (FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW) Ex parte Rodney Reed, Nos. 50-961-08, 50,961-09 (Tex. Crim. App. June 26, 2019) (ORDER) (Per curiam) vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page QUESTIONS PRESENTED........................................ i PARTIES TO THE PROCEEDINGS BELOW ......... iii LIST OF RELATED PROCEEDINGS ...................... iii TABLE OF APPENDICES ....................................... vii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ....................................... x OPINIONS BELOW ................................................... 3 STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION ........................... 3 CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS .......................... 3 STATEMENT OF THE CASE ................................... 4 A. The Theory Upon Which The State Obtained Reed’s Conviction. ......................... 4 B. The CCA Affirmed Reed’s Conviction And Denied Post-Conviction Relief Based On The Strength Of Now Recanted And Demonstrably False Testimony. ..................................................... 9 C. Reed Demonstrated His Conviction Was Obtained Through False Testimony And Recanted Scientific Opinions, And In Violation Of Brady v. Maryland. ..................................... 10 vii D. Reed Demonstrated In His 2018 Petition That Nothing Remains Of The State’s Case Against Him. ................... 15 E. The CCA Entered A Cursory Denial Of Habeas Relief After A Four-Year Stay Of Execution. ...................................... 23 REASONS FOR GRANTING THE WRIT ............... 24 I. THE TEXAS COURTS FAILED TO CONSIDER FENNELL’S REFUSAL TO TESTIFY WHEN CONFRONTED WITH SUPPRESSED EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE IN VIOLATION OF THE SIXTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS. ........................................... 24 II. REED’S CONVICTION IS PREMISED ON SCIENTIFIC EXPERT OPINIONS THAT HAVE SINCE BEEN RECANTED IN VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS. ...................................................... 29 III. REED’S CONVICTION OR EXECUTION WOULD VIOLATE THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION BECAUSE HE IS ACTUALLY INNOCENT OF THE MURDER OF STACEY STITES. .......................................... 34 CONCLUSION ......................................................... 38 viii TABLE OF APPENDICES Page Order of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Ex Parte Rodney Reed v. State, Nos. WR-50,961-08, WR-50-961-09 (Tex. Crim. App. June 26, 2019)..................... 1a Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law of District Court Reed v. State, No. 8701 (Texas 21st District Jan. 5, 2018) .................. 6a Order of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Ex Parte Reed, Nos. WR-50,961-07, WR-50,961-08 (Tex. Crim. App. May 17, 2017) ................... 43a Opinion of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Reed v. State, No. 73,135 (Tex. Crim. App. Dec. 6, 2000) ..................... 56a Opinion of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Ex Parte Rodney Reed, No. AP-75693 271 S.W.3d 689 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) ....... 84a Declaration of Roberto J. Bayardo, M.D. (dated Aug. 31, 2012) .................................. 197a ix Affidavit of Werner U. Spitz, M.D. (dated Feb. 4, 2015) .................................... 202a Letter Opinion of Michael M. Baden, M.D. (dated Feb. 10, 2015) .................................. 208a Affidavit of LeRoy Riddick, M.D. (dated Jan. 10, 2015) .................................. 213a Bode Cellmark Forensics Forensic DNA/Biology Analysis Testimony Result of Review (dated Jan. 11, 2018) ..................... 228a Letter from Brady W. Mills, Assistant Division Director, Crime Laboratory Service, Law Enforcement Service Division, Texas Department of Public Safety (dated Apr. 30, 2018) .................................. 232a Supplemental Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus, (filed June 26, 2018, in Ex parte Reed, WR-50,961) .................................................. 232a Transcript From Trial of Rodney Reed (Excerpts) State v. Reed, No. 8701 (Texas 21st District May 4- 18, 1998) ...................................................... 292a Transcript From Hearing On Writ Of Habeas Corpus (Excerpts) State v. Reed, No. 8701 (Texas 21st District, October 10-14, 2017) ................................................. 320a x DRS Productions “Death Row Stories” Interview With Curtis Davis (April 14, 2016) ........................................... 354a Affidavit of Alicia Slater (dated Dec. 15, 2015) .................................. 422a Affidavit of LeRoy Ybarra (dated Jan. 15, 2015) .................................. 428a Affidavit of Calvin “Buddy” Horton (dated Mar. 2015) .......................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Death Penalty
    2 CASE STUDY 1 NARRATIVE SHIFT AND THE DEATH PENALTY In this case study, The Opportunity Agenda explores a narrative shift that transpired over a period of almost 50 years—from 1972, a time when the death penalty was widely supported by the American public, to the present, a time of growing concern about its application and a significant drop in support. It tells the story of how a small, under-resourced group of death penalty abolitionists came together and developed a communications strategy designed to raise doubts in people’s minds about the system’s fairness that would cause them to reconsider their views. In its early days, the abolition movement was composed of civil liberties and civil rights organizations, death pen- alty litigators, academics, and religious groups and individuals. Later, new and influential voices joined who were directly impacted by the death penalty, including family members of murder victims and death row exonerees. Key players used a combination of tactics, including coalition building—which brought together litigators and grass- roots organizers—protests and conferences, data collection, storage, and dissemination, original research fol- lowed by strategic media placements, and original public opinion research. This case study highlights the importance of several factors necessary in bringing about narrative shift. Key find- ings include: It can be a long haul. In the case of issues like the death penalty, with its heavy symbolic and racialized 1. associations, change happens incrementally, and patience and persistence on the part of advocates are critical. Research matters. Although limited to a few focus groups, the public opinion research undertaken in 2.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas and the 21St Judicial District Court Bastrop County, Texas
    IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS AND THE 21ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT BASTROP COUNTY, TEXAS EX PARTE § Writ Cause No.____ § CCA No. 50,961-04 RODNEY REED, § § Trial Cause No. 8701 Applicant. _________________________________________________________ APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS _________________________________________________________ THIS IS A DEATH PENALTY CASE BRYCE BENJET State Bar No. 24006829 THE INNOCENCE PROJECT 40 Worth St. Suite. 701 New York, New York 10013 (212) 364-5340 (212) 364-5341 (fax) ANDREW F. MACRAE State Bar No. 00784510 LEVATINO|PACE LLP 1101 S. Capital of Texas Highway Building K, Suite 125 Austin, Texas 78746 (512) 637-8563 (512) 637-1583 (fax) Attorneys for Applicant Rodney Reed TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................i I. Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 A. New Forensic Evidence Demonstrates that the State’s Theory of Mr. Reed’s Guilt Is Impossible ............................................................................ 1 B. New Witnesses Provide Further Support for Mr. Reed’s Account of His Relationship with Ms. Stites.. ............................................................................ 5 1. Alicia Slater .................................................................................................... 5 2. Lee Roy Ybarra……..………………………………………………………6 C. The
    [Show full text]
  • Judicial District Court Bastrop County, Texas
    IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS AND THE 21ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT BASTROP COUNTY, TEXAS EX PARTE § Writ Cause No. 50, 961 § RODNEY REED, § § Trial Cause No. 8701 Applicant. § _________________________________________________________ MOTION FOR DEPOSITION OF CURTIS DAVIS _________________________________________________________ Applicant Rodney Reed files this Motion to take the deposition of Curtis Davis in order to fully develop the facts alleged in his Supplemental Application filed with this Court on June 8, 2016. Because Mr. Reed’s counsel was not provided with a copy of the CNN interview, and was only permitted to review limited portions of the interview, a Deposition is necessary to more fully develop the factual record regarding Officer Davis’s role in the investigation and his account of his conversations with Jimmy Fennell on April 23, 1996. A. Mr. Reed has been provided with only limited access to Officer Davis’s interview. As discussed in the Supplemental Application, Officer Davis sat for an interview with CNN in the spring of 2016 in which he discussed the April 23, 1996 conversation in which Mr. Fennell told him what happened on the night of April 22, 2016. A CNN producer later permitted undersigned counsel Bryce Benjet and his legal assistant to view the portion of the videotaped interview in which Officer Davis recounted his conversation with Mr. Fennell. The producer also allowed a brief review of the transcript of the entire interview. During this brief review, the producer held the transcript and paged through it in the presence of Mr. Benjet and his legal assistant. As the producer paged through the transcript, he described the subject matter of each page.
    [Show full text]
  • 20180201153354587 Rodney Reed -- Appendix.Pdf
    1a IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS NO. AP-77,054 RODNEY REED, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS ON DIRECT APPEAL FROM CAUSE NUMBER 8701 IN THE 21ST DISTRICT COURT BASTROP COUNTY KEASLER, J., delivered the opinion of the Court in which KELLER, P.J., and HERVEY, ALCALA, RICHARDSON, YEARY, KEEL, and WALKER, JJ., joined. NEWELL, J., not participating. O P I N I O N Rodney Reed sought post-conviction DNA testing of over forty items collected in the course of investigating Stacey Stites’s sexual assault and 2a murder. This investigation culminated in Reed’s conviction and sentence of death for the capital murder of Stites. The trial judge denied the motion. Because Reed cannot establish that exculpatory DNA results would have resulted in his acquittal and his motion is not made for the purpose of unreasonable delay, we affirm the trial judge’s denial. I. Background A. Trial Because we detailed the case’s factual background elsewhere,1 only the facts relevant to Reed’s current DNA appeal are included in this opinion. Stacey Lee Stites’s partially clothed body was found on the side of a back country road in Bastrop County on April 23, 1996. She was wearing only a black bra, underwear, undone blue jeans, socks, and a single tennis shoe, and her H.E.B. name tag was found in the crook of her knee. A white t- shirt, a piece of a brown woven belt without a buckle, and two beer cans were found nearby. Before Stites’s murder, she was engaged to Jimmy Fennell, a Giddings police officer at the time, and the two shared Fennell’s red pick-up truck.
    [Show full text]
  • USA: Execution Halted for Man with Innocence Claims: Rodney Reed
    Outcome UA: 146/19 Index: AMR 51/1438/2019 United States of America Date: 20 November 2019 URGENT ACTION EXECUTION HALTED FOR MAN WITH INNOCENCE CLAIMS On 15 November, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Rodney Reed and ordered the original trial court to consider new evidence in his case. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles also supported delaying the execution and recommended that the Governor grant a 120-day reprieve. Rodney Reed has been on death row since 1998. NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUESTED. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT APPEALS. In 1998 Rodney Reed was convicted and sentenced to death in Texas for the murder of Stacey Stites on 23 April 1996. DNA testing of semen from her body was matched to the DNA of Rodney Reed. The victim was engaged to a white police officer and Rodney Reed initially denied knowing her, fearing being implicated in her murder. Several witnesses have since confirmed their relationship. Expert opinion and other evidence call into question the state’s theory of the crime and the forensic evidence on which it was based. The prosecution claimed Rodney Reed’s DNA was left during a rape contemporaneous with the murder, occurring around 3am that day. The prosecution’s forensic expert has since signed a statement indicating that his testimony was misused by the prosecution; that his estimate “should not have been used at trial as an accurate statement of when Ms Stites died”; and that the semen could have been left more than 24 hours before the victim’s death, consistent with Reed’s claim of consensual sex in that time frame.
    [Show full text]
  • Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2019: the Year in Review Executive Summary the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
    Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2019: The Year in Review Executive Summary The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) – a statewide advocacy organization based in Austin, Texas – publishes this annual report to inform the public and elected officials about issues associated with the death penalty over the past year. The report, which includes illustrative charts and graphs, cites these recent death penalty developments in Texas: • Texas juries rejected the death penalty in 50% of the cases presented to them this year. Four capital murder trials in which prosecutors sought the death penalty resulted in death sentences, while four other capital trials resulted in sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. • Prosecutors from both rural and urban counties removed the death penalty as a sentencing option in nearly a dozen cases in which they had initially submitted a notice of intent to seek death. • New death sentences remained in the single digits for the fifth year in a row. • Only four counties in Texas account for more than one death sentence in the last five years. More than one-third of all death sentences imposed in this timeframe came from these four counties. • Of the four men sentenced to death in Texas in 2019, two are people of color and two are white. Over the last five years, more than 70% of death sentences have been imposed on people of color; 38% of these death sentences were imposed on African-American defendants. • Executions declined in 2019. The State of Texas put 9 people to death this year, compared with 13 executions in 2018.
    [Show full text]
  • February 2020 Rodney Reed Writ of Mandamus
    FILED 20-0128 2/20/2020 10:27 AM tex-41036309 SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS BLAKE A. HAWTHORNE, CLERK NO. __________ IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS IN RE RODNEY REED, Relator. Original Mandamus Proceeding from the 21st District Court of Bastrop County, Texas Cause No. 8701 PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS LEVATINO PACE PLLC BAKER BOTTS L.L.P. Andrew F. MacRae Scott D. Powers State Bar No. 00784510 State Bar No. 24027746 1101 S. Capital of Texas Highway Delaney J. McMullan Building K, Suite 125 State Bar No. 24106287 Austin, Texas 78746 98 San Jacinto Blvd., Suite 1500 512.637.8565 telephone Austin, Texas 78701 512.637.1583 facsimile 512.322.2500 telephone 512.322.2501 facsimile ATTORNEYS FOR RELATOR RODNEY REED ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED IDENTITIES OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL Pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 52.3(a), the following is a complete list of all parties, and the names and addresses of all counsel: Relator: Rodney Reed Counsel for Relator: Andrew F. MacRae LEVATINO PACE PLLC 1101 S. Capital of Texas Highway Building K, Suite 125 Austin, Texas 78746 Scott D. Powers Delaney J. McMullan BAKER BOTTS L.L.P. 98 San Jacinto Blvd., Suite 1500 Austin, Texas 78701 Respondent: Honorable Olen Underwood, Presiding Judge of the Second Administrative Judicial Region Real Party in Interest: State of Texas Counsel for Real Party in Matthew Ottoway Interest: Assistant Attorney General P.O. Box 12548 Capitol Station Austin, Texas 78711 Brian Goertz Bastrop County District Attorney 804 Pecan Street Bastrop, Texas 78602 i TABLE OF CONTENTS Identities of Parties and Counsel ..................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Innocnet Man Death Penalty Executed
    Innocnet Man Death Penalty Executed Karim is enduring and mulches thereof as fleury Samuele besieged stringendo and illumining wheresoever. Unprophetic and dynastical Clair hawsing while cloddish Quigly mucks her festivity nakedly and frame-ups lovingly. Wed Augustine fixings very amusedly while Andonis remains sensualistic and bribeable. Get results and people, man executed inmate, and resources for the Optional callback immediately recognized internationally as president trump presidency just two different cause innocnet man death penalty executed on appeal, at trial and using their reasons. James Liebman and his students reveal that DeLuna was this fact innocent. Previously executed the church man Alexander Kravchenko for one corner the murders in brief desire to. Condemned To Death 5 of America's Longest Serving Death Row. Four years later the same witness saw a photo of a different twist and. Phil much better fellow Texas death-row inmate Rodney Reed recently was which helped Reed where an indefinite stay of execution As base Will. And former FBI director William S Sessions spoke out bow the execution. Due on a political conspiracy an outside man we sent to death low and his son hope. Innocence Resources Witness to Innocence. The death let alone imposes an irrevocable sentence. Oklahoma man was next in legacy for execution still lives on. Execution Petitions Death in Action. Martin Luther King Jr's son asks Alabama to stay Nathaniel. These elevate the names of the humans on federal death him and the. 'Arkie' Barton am now and waiter are executing an incredible man. Missouri executes Walter Barton despite innocence claim.
    [Show full text]
  • Writ of Habeas Corpus ______
    IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS AND THE 21st JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT BASTROP COUNTY, TEXAS EX PARTE § Writ Case No. 50,961 § RODNEY REED, § § Trial Cause No. 8701 Applicant. § _________________________________________________________ APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS _________________________________________________________ THIS IS A DEATH PENALTY CASE BRYCE BENJET State Bar No. 24006829 THE INNOCENCE PROJECT 40 Worth St. Suite 701 New York, New York 10013 (212) 364-5340 (212) 364-5341 (fax) ANDREW F. MACRAE State Bar No. 00784510 LEVATINO|PACE LLP 1101 S. Capital of Texas Highway Building K, Suite 125 Austin, Texas 78746 (512) 637-8563 (512) 637-1583 (fax) Attorneys for Applicant Rodney Reed TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 FACTUAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................... 4 I. NEW EVIDENCE FURTHER INCULPATES MS. STITES'S FIANCÉ IN HER MURDER. .......................................................................................... 4 A. Mr. Fennell Confessed To Killing Ms. Stites Because She Was Having An Affair With A Black Man. ....................................................... 4 B. Mr. Fennell Threatened To Kill Ms. Stites If He Caught Her Cheating On Him. ....................................................................................... 6 C. Mr. Fennell Discovered That Ms. Stites Was "Messing Around" On Him With A Black Man. .....................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Murder Trial
    No. 17-1093 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States _________________________ RODNEY REED, Petitioner, vs. THE STATE OF TEXAS Respondent. _________________________ On Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals _________________________ RESPONDENT’S BRIEF IN OPPOSITION _________________________ BRYAN GOERTZ Criminal District Attorney Bastrop County, Texas MATTHEW OTTOWAY Assistant Attorney General/ Assistant District Attorney Counsel of Record P.O. Box 12548 Austin, Texas 78711 (512) 936-1400 [email protected] Counsel for Respondent i CAPITAL CASE QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Whether jurisdiction exists for pure state-law procedural questions, and where the purportedly constitutional issues were not passed upon below but raised for the first time in a discretionary, post-judgment motion being directly appealed to this Court. 2. Whether fact-bound questions, not properly raised below, regarding Texas’s postconviction DNA testing scheme—a scheme in accord with many other states and the Court’s relevant precedent—warrant review. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS QUESTIONS PRESENTED .................................................... I TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................... II INDEX OF AUTHORITIES .................................................. IV BRIEF IN OPPOSITION ........................................................1 STATEMENT OF THE CASE .................................................2 I. THE CAPITAL MURDER TRIAL .................................2 II. THE STATE’S PUNISHMENT
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrities Against Death Penalty
    Celebrities Against Death Penalty fosterCornellis rightly. is promisingly Han is exogamous withy after and tressiest gemmating Hallam aphoristically befit his widgies while acrimoniously. shier Cyrus forsook Fornical and Ginger mirror. Fennell was a rookie patrolman hired straight out ensure the academy by the Giddings Police Department. Did you see who was complete the car? Hotels over the sultanate's new death-penalty laws for gay sex or adultery. Blue Bell ice cream. Sanders followed six years away with his death penalty for good. Thursday night clearing the way holding his complete sentence level proceed Bernard. Suburban after killing the businessman. Since the federal death and was reinstated by the US Supreme Court. Scott spent more importantly he steps out against atheists, celebrities and celebrity to understand. He surrender now seeking commutation of his eventual sentence. In Brunei amid outcry from human rights groups and celebrities. Despite these problems, the Coleman and Griffin cases do offer some hope forthose who desire to prove the innocence of some of the inmates executed during themodem era. The love between sentence in service not many of celebrities against death penalty is seemingly endless hours a right now it was being nosey and a free julius. It was smoking pot and christopher vialva in less and celebrities against death penalty is? Socrates and to apply for his death penalty, or communicate with jokowi in regards to brandon bernard and did. According to death penalty against a law distinguishes between rival gang that matter, celebrities including rigs and celebrity video call so. For those words of what does not do with darker skin, but fairness to? Celebrities React To The Execution Of Alabama Death of Inmate.
    [Show full text]
  • Back Strikers Fighting Asarco Union Busting!
    AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Nigeria conference: ‘Cuba has always stood by Africa’ — PAGE 4 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE Vol. 83/no. 43 NOVEMber 25, 2019 Sales of ‘Turn Back strikers fighting UN vote: End to Industry’ Asarco union busting! Washington’s book boosts Join Nov. 18 solidarity rally in Tucson! economic war fall campaign against Cuba BY brIAN WILLIAMS BY SETH GALINSKY The Socialist Workers Party drive AND LEA SHERMAN to get 1,100 Militant subscriptions and UNITED NATIONS — For the 1,250 books by revolutionary leaders 28th year in a row, the U.N. General into the hands of working people got a Assembly voted Nov. 7 to demand the boost with the publication of The Turn U.S. rulers end their economic, com- to Industry: Forging a Proletarian mercial and financial embargo against Party by SWP National Secretary Jack Cuba. The resolution passed with 187 Barnes. The new title is getting snapped votes in favor. Only the governments up by workers looking for a road for- of Brazil and Israel joined Washington ward out of the crisis of capitalism. to vote against it. Two governments But with just under four weeks left abstained, Colombia and Ukraine. and a number of areas around the coun- For several months the U.S. gov- try behind schedule on the goals they’ve ernment has escalated its economic adopted, SWP members are review- aggression, Cuban Foreign Minister ing their plans to ensure they can bring Bruno Rodríguez told the assembly, home their goals in full and on time.
    [Show full text]