FEATURED POST

Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

Published
Image
Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Texas: DNA evidence to be analyzed again in death penalty case appeal

Published
A lawyer for Steven Thomas, who faces the death penalty after being convicted of capital murder in Williamson County, says some of the DNA evidence presented at the trial was false, according to court documents. A district judge approved payments this month for the lawyer to hire a DNA analyst and a fingerprint analyst to review the evidence in Thomas' case, court orders showed.

Thomas was convicted Oct. 31, 2014, in the death of 73-year-old Mildred McKinney, who was beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled at her Williamson County home in 1980. He was 56 when he was convicted. He was arrested in 2012 after DNA he was required to provide for a federal drug charge matched DNA found at the crime scene.

A DNA analyst from the Texas Department of Public Safety testified at Thomas' trial that his sperm was found on a ribbon wrapped around one of McKinney's thumbs. Thomas' fingerprint also was found on a clock at McKinney's home, according to another DPS analyst.

Thomas, who worked for a pesticide service that had been to McKinney's house, appealed his case in January 2015 to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where it is pending.

As part of the appeal, 1 of Thomas' attorneys, Joanne Heisey, filed requests with Williamson County's 26th District Court in November requesting money to hire a DNA analyst and a latent print examiner. Latent fingerprints - such as the one prosecutors said Thomas left on the clock - aren't visible to the eye but are left behind by oils or perspiration on a finger.

"Mr. Thomas's trial counsel did not seek expert assistance to independently review any of the forensic evidence the State used to convict him," the requests said. "A preliminary review of the DNA evidence presented at Mr. Thomas' trial indicates that at least some of that evidence was false."

Recent research, the requests said, "has called into question the reliability of various forensic methods, including latent fingerprint analysis." The research shows that latent fingerprint analysis has a false positive rate that could be "as high as 1 error in 18 cases," the requests said.

A lawyer who works with Heisey said their office had no comment about the case. Lytza Rojas, a former prosecutor involved in Thomas' trial, didn't return requests for comment last week. Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick said Thursday he couldn't comment on pending litigation.

State District Judge Donna King on Jan. 3 approved Heisey's requests to hire a DNA analyst for $5,500 and a fingerprint analyst for $3,000, according to court orders. Under state law, Williamson County will be repaid by the state for the expenses, according to the requests filed by Thomas' lawyer.

Another one of Thomas' lawyers, Ariel Payan, said in his appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals in August that the evidence presented at the trial showed McKinney was killed by more than one person. No evidence at the trial showed Thomas had killed McKinney or helped commit any other crime against her, Payan said.

Evidence at the trial showed that a throat swab taken from McKinney's autopsy showed male DNA that didn't belong to Thomas and also ruled out other suspects in the case, including serial killer Henry Lee Lucas and his partner Ottis Toole. The ribbon wrapped around one of McKinney's thumbs not only had DNA on it from Thomas but also from an unknown man, according to a DNA analyst who testified at the trial.

Source: Austin American-Statesman, January 15, 2017

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!
Location: Texas, USA
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

First Third Of 2024 In Saudi Arabia: Executions Rise By 189% And Portend Another Bloody Year. At Least 71 Currently Facing Execution.

Published
Image
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.
Read more

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

Published
Image
The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ
Read more

Cruel and Unusual: Documentary explores epicenter of Texas’ prison system

Published
Image
Every few years, from childhood until my late teens, my granddad would take me along with him to the small Texas town where he grew up—Normangee, population 522—to visit old relatives and even older graves. The drive took us up I-45, beyond the Houston sprawl, past pine forests, and eventually through Huntsville, epicenter of the state prison system. One of the city’s seven prisons was just off the interstate, and as we passed by I’d stare at the guard towers and barbed wire before turning my attention across the street to the Texas Prison Museum, which had its own mock guard towers in the parking lot. (“Prison” and “museum” were words that never seemed to go together.) Later, I learned that the museum’s central attraction was the wooden electric chair the state used for executions until 1964.
Read more

Saudi authorities agree to postpone execution of Kenyan national

Published
Image
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 – Saudi Arabia has acceded to Kenya’s request to postpone the execution of Stephen Munyakho that was set for Wednesday to allow for further negotiations between all parties. According to Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei, Kenya will be engaging stakeholders in Nairobi and Riyadh, including religious leaders, to agree on the next urgent steps.
Read more