Murder/Homicide

Racial Justice Act May Delay Mecklenburg County Death Penalty Cases

Published on: September 23, 2011 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

death penalty pic.bmp In a recent interview with WSOC channel 9 news interview, Charlotte criminal defense attorney, J. Bradley “Brad” Smith, was asked to comment on the Racial Justice Act and how it is impacting the death penalty cases that are set to be heard next year in Mecklenburg County. According to the Mecklenburg County DA, the courts will try three death penalty cases in 2012.

Signed into law in 2009, The Racial Justice Act allows death row inmates to challenge their conviction on the basis of race. This may very well delay the process and court proceeding for Mecklenburg County cases. Of the 158 inmates currently on death row, 152 have filed racial justice claims. Prosecutors believe this is an overuse of the law; however, from the defendant’s perspective, attorney Brad Smith says, “when you’re sitting on death row you’re pretty much gonna use anything and everything at your disposal in which to challenge your conviction and not get the death penalty.”

The death penalty matter has once again grabbed headlines with the recent events in Georgia with Troy Davis. On Wednesday, September 21, 2011, at 11:08 p.m., Troy Davis was executed for the murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. In the weeks prior to Mr. Davis’ execution, he and his supporters sparked yet another national debate over the death penalty, the possibility of an innocent man being executed for a crime he did not commit, and the issue of race in death penalty sentencing.

On August 18, 1989, Officer MacPhail was working off-duty as a security guard at a Burger King. At around 1:00 a.m. there was a disturbance in the parking lot when a group of men, including Mr. Davis, was accosting a homeless man over some beer. While responding to the disturbance, Officer MacPhail was shot twice, once in the heart and once in the head. On August 23, 1989, Mr. Davis turned himself in knowing he was a wanted man in the murder of Officer MacPhail. Just over two years later, Mr. Davis was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

The case against Mr. Davis was one lacking in physical evidence. No murder weapon was ever found, and though a ballistics expert testified the same gun may have shot Officer MacPhail and wounded another man that same night, although he did have doubts about this. Witnesses also testified either that they observed Mr. Davis shoot Officer MacPhail, or that Mr. Davis confessed that he shot Officer MacPhail.

‘West Memphis Three’ Set Free But Not Exonerated

Published on: August 22, 2011 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

West Memphis.jpg On August 19, 2011, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskeley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin changed their original 1993 not guilty pleas and a judge found that based on these new pleas, they have served their time, and they will be released but have a ten-year suspended sentence hanging over them once they are released. This legal maneuver, called an Alford Plea, allows these men to maintain their assertion that they are innocent but acknowledges that the state does have some evidence against them that could be the basis of a conviction.

In 1993, three 8-year old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, a small town just across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee. Echols, Misskeley and Baldwin were charged and tried for the boys’ murder, but Prosecutors never could give anyone a reason why these then 13-year olds would commit such a horrendous crime. Their only idea was that these boys committed the murders as part of a Satanic ritual. The boys have always maintained their innocence, yet in 1993, Echols was sentenced to death, and Baldwin and Misskeley were sentenced to life.

The case of the West Memphis Three has been in the headlines for years. An HBO three part documentary, “Paradise Lost”, has been in the works almost since the boys were convicted with Part I being released in 1996 and Part II released in 2000. After Friday’s hearing, the ending of the third part will have to be revised before its release which was scheduled to be in January. Celebrities have also joined the cause with Metallica allowing the use of its songs in the documentary, and singer Pattis Smith, actor Johnny Depp and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vetter all appearing at a benefit for the West Memphis Three in Little Rock, Arkansas last summer.

While the West Memphis Three are going home, they will still have the burden of a murder conviction and ten year suspended sentence hanging over them. Even though new DNA tests failed to show that the boys were even at the crime scene, the Judge would not overturn the conviction. Had the three not entered these Alford pleas, they likely would have stayed in prison pending a new trial. Once the judge refused to overturn the conviction, this was their best option to be sure to be released from prison.

These young men spent 18 years in prison for a crime they claim they did not commit, and there is no conclusive evidence to the contrary. One would hope that such a horror would be rare in this country where the state is held to a burden of showing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet too often there is a rush to judgment and an attitude that if a person is on trial, they must be guilty. The prime examples of this are the hundreds of exonerations that have resulted from DNA testing. In North Carolina alone, seven people have been exonerated after their wrongful conviction thanks to DNA testing.

Man Decides to Represent Himself on Murder Charges

Published on: July 19, 2011 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

In May, Robert Allan Lehmann was charged with murdering his ex-wife Emily Ford and her father, Russell Ford, after Lehmann lost a custody battle earlier that day. Orange County, CA Prosecutors allege Lehmann sent his current wife and his daughter out for ice cream and waited for Emily and her father to come to take custody of their 7-year old daughter. Prosecutors claim once Emily and her father arrived, Lehmann opened the door and then opened fire on Emily and her father as they tried to run away. Prosecutors further allege that after Emily and her father fell, Lehmann reloaded and then executed them both by shooting each in the back of the head.

On July 8, Lehmann told the Orange County Superior Court’s permission that he was refusing counsel, and therefore he will proceed in his defense representing himself.

According to the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court ruled that every criminal defendant charged with a felony has the right to the assistance of counsel. This ruling was later expanded to guarantee the right to counsel at or after the time that judicial proceedings have been initiated.

Just as now a person has the right to counsel, a person likewise has the right to proceed pro se, or without the assistance of counsel, as Mr. Lehmann has chosen to do. However, as the old proverb says, “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.” If you or someone you know has been accused of a crime, assert your constitutional right for an attorney.