Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Bulletin: Richard Glossip: Oklahoma; Glossip's attorneys question legality of two Week stay by appeals court"..." In a separate court filing Monday, Glossip’s attorneys also said they were investigating a claim that a box of evidence related to Glossip’s case was destroyed. An Oklahoma City Police report indicates the property was transferred from the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office in 1999 and set to be destroyed because Glossip had exhausted his appeal. The box contained a roll of duct tape and a bag with duct tape, along with an envelope containing a note, eyeglasses, a wallet, knives, and keys, as well as a white shower curtain and miscellaneous papers and financial records. The attorneys filed the claimed based on a report by KOKH-TV Fox 25’s Phil Cross: “You're supposed to preserve it and all of us have a duty as lawyers, especially the prosecution has a duty to maintain custody of any evidence that is in any investigation of any criminal offense,” said Oklahoma City defense attorney Garvin Isaacs." KGOU;

"Just hours before Glossip was scheduled to die September 16, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals halted the lethal injection so judges can have more time to review evidence attorneys claim proves Glossip’s innocence. The court set a new execution date of September 30. In a court filing Tuesday, Glossip’s attorneys say that move violates state law:In short, the motion says a new execution date can’t be set until the court dissolves its previous stay, and then the execution must be set either 30 or 60 days afterward, not 14, as the attorneys argue in this case. In a separate court filing Monday, Glossip’s attorneys also said they were investigating a claim that a box of evidence related to Glossip’s case was destroyed. An Oklahoma City Police report indicates the property was transferred from the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office in 1999 and set to be destroyed because Glossip had exhausted his appeal. The box contained a roll of duct tape and a bag with duct tape, along with an envelope containing a note, eyeglasses, a wallet, knives, and keys, as well as a white shower curtain and miscellaneous papers and financial records. The attorneys filed the claimed based on a report by KOKH-TV Fox 25’s Phil Cross: “You're supposed to preserve it and all of us have a duty as lawyers, especially the prosecution has a duty to maintain custody of any evidence that is in any investigation of any criminal offense,” said Oklahoma City defense attorney Garvin Isaacs.  Isaacs is a noted defense attorney, but he spent part of his career in the prosecutor’s office, but he is not connected to the Glossip case.  Isaacs says the destruction of evidence is, to say the least, a big deal. “When you destroy a piece of evidence,” Isaacs told Fox 25, “That raises the inference in the law that that evidence is against you.  Isaacs says what that means is when a party destroys evidence, the jury should be instructed to take that as an admission of guilt.  Isaacs read from the book he calls the “Bible for defense attorneys,” in describing what the destruction of evidence means for prosecutors.  “He is said to give ground to believe his case is weak and not to be won by fair means,” Isaacs read. Retired detective Janet Hogue is the closing officer listed on the police report, and told Cross she doesn’t remember that specific box."
http://kgou.org/post/glossips-attorneys-question-legality-two-week-stay-appeals-court#stream/0