Dark

I haven't posted in more than a couple days, and it will be more than a couple of days hence before I post again. I am out of state and deeply involved in a case.

For those of you who wish to read a remarkable work on wrongful execution, specifically the case of Carlos DeLuna, I recommend the astonishingly well done effort by Columbia Human Rights Law Review. I wrote of Carlos DeLuna early in my still young blogging "career", back in May of 2010. I scored him as having an 83% chance of being factually innocent.  Since I have yet to work my way all the way through the Columbia review of the case, I do not yet know whether or not I would change that estimate.

For those of you awaiting my response to Brain Teaser #2, I have nothing to offer in this post. I will respond sometime after I return home.

For those of you following the case of Preston Hughes III, I offer another paragraph from Shandra's autopsy report. It's sad in its own way, but I believe it may help identify the person who actually killed her. (I'll give you a hint. That person was not Preston Hughes III.)

EXTERNAL APPEARANCE: The body was that of a 15 year old black female, appearing older than the stated age, measuring 65 inches in length and weighing 127 pounds. The body was well developed and well nourished in appearance. There was total body rigidity and fixed postmortem lividity posteriorly. The head was normocephalic with a normal amount of kinky black hair which was beaded, measuring 12 inches in length. The eyes were covered with corneal caps. The ears and nose were unremarkable. The mouth contained natural teeth. The neck was symmetrical and stable. There was a stab wound in the left upper side at the left submandibular area. The thorax was symmetrical in shape and contour with unremarkable breasts bilaterally. There was a stab wound on the left side. The abdomen was flat. The external genitalia were those of a normal adult female with unremarkable pubic hair in normal distribution. There was no injury to the mucosa or submucosa of the vagina. The perineum was intact. The lower extremities showed no edema. The toenails were partially covered with red nail polish. The upper extremities showed recent needle punctures in the left and right cubital areas. The fingernails were covered with pink nail polish. The back was unremarkable. The cerebrospinal fluid was clear.

Shandra was using. I suspect that use led to her death at the hands of those involved with drugs.

I refer you to my previous posts Weed and The 99 Cent Coin.

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Texas Death Penalty on Trial: Judge Fine Sets a Date

I wrote of Judge Kevin Fine first in Now For Another Cosmic Moment after he granted a hearing to the defense team for John Green. The defense team had argued their client should not be subject to the death penalty because the death penalty was unconstitutional. Judge Fine, admitting to his concern that Texas had probably already executed innocent people, scheduled a hearing. Texas appealed and lost.

Now I learn from My Fox Houston that Judge Kevin Fine has scheduled the hearing for November 8 and expects that the hearing might last two weeks. The article was only four paragraphs long. I like the last one best.

Prosecutors say they are not opposed to a hearing [that] looks at the constitutionality of the death penalty law, but object to any hearing that would look at whether Texas has executed an innocent person.

The prosecutors were previously opposed to looking into the constitutionality of the death penalty, but apparently changed their opinion after the appellate court ruled against them. And I will bet dollars to doughnut holes that the prosecutors deeply and sincerely object to any hearing that would consider whether Texas has executed an innocent person.

Particularly so if that person is Cameron Todd Willingham or Shaka Sankofa (both of whom I have yet to write about), or Johnny Frank Garrett, or David Wayne Spence, or Robert Nelson Drew, or Carlos DeLuna, or Odell Barnes, or a long list of others I intend to document in this blog.

Certainly had Tim Cole not died on death row before Texas could execute him, certainly had he not succumbed of asthma before Texas could plunge lethal chemicals into his arm, certainly then the prosecution would object to discussing his case as well.

The Case of Carlos DeLuna

The case of Carlos DeLuna is one of the more simple cases to comprehend. I'll try to be quick.

Corpus Christi, Texas, February 1983. George Aguirre pulls into a gas station and notices a man outside with a knife. The man asks Aguirre for a ride. Aguirre declines. The man goes to the side of the building. Aguirre goes inside and warns the clerk, Wanda Lopez, about the man with the knife. Aguirre leaves. 

Lopez calls 911 and tells them about the man with the knife. They say they can't do anything, that she should call back if he comes inside. The man with the knife comes inside. Wanda Lopez calls 911 again and tells them that the man with the knife has come inside. She begins to scream. The 911 operator records the last moments of Wanda's life.