"In his court filings, Perry has asked for a delay because of new developments. One was Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's decision last month to spare a death-row inmate's life, in part because of flawed testimony Shrode gave at his murder trial. Another was Shrode's firing in El Paso County."
REPORTER DIANA WASHINGTON VALDER: EL PASO TIMES; (Wikipedia informs us that, "The El Paso Times is the English-language newspaper for the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas. The paper was founded in 1881 by Marcellus Washington Carrico. It originally started out as a weekly but within a year's time, it became the daily newspaper for the frontier town.")
PHOTO: DR. PAUL SHRODE;
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BACKGROUND: The Michael Perry case is one of several cases, have came under scrutiny following developments relating to Richard Nields which center around Dr. Paul Shrode. Richard Nields was on death row having been convicted of killing his girlfriend Patricia Newsome in Springfield Township (just outside Cincinnati). The Supreme Court of Ohio had scheduled his murder for June 10. The Ohio Parole Board hearing was held May 10. The Parole Board issued its report and recommendation on May 18, 2010. By a 4-3 vote, it recommended that Nield's sentence be commuted to life without parole, partly because it found the opinion of medical examiner Paul Shrode was unsupported by the forensic evidence. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland commuted the death sentence to life without parole.
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"Lawyers for a death row inmate who was convicted partly on testimony by former El Paso Medical Examiner Paul Shrode filed a petition with the Texas Supreme Court for a stay of execution," the El Paso story by reporter Diana Washington Valdez published earlier today begins, under the heading, "Lawyers seek stay of execution after Shrode case."
"Unless the court grants the stay, 28-year-old Michael Perry, the inmate, will be executed as scheduled on Thursday in Huntsville, Texas." the story continues.
"We submitted the petition late yesterday (Tuesday), and we are waiting, said Jessica Mederson, a lawyer with the Vinson and Elkins, LLP, law firm in Austin, which is representing Perry.
Perry's petition for writ of certiorari alleges that Shrode's testimony undermined his defense.
The Houston-area man was sentenced to death for the 2001 murder of Sandra Stotler. A second defendant was convicted and is serving a life sentence for two other murders related to Perry's case.
Last week, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Perry s request for a hearing to review the case.
In his court filings, Perry has asked for a delay because of new developments.
One was Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's decision last month to spare a death-row inmate's life, in part because of flawed testimony Shrode gave at his murder trial. Another was Shrode's firing in El Paso County."
The story can be found at:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_15412425?source=rss
