"Foster’s appeal raised claims of innocence and poor legal help during his trial and early stages of his appeals.
He was sentenced to death for fatally shooting Nyaneur Pal, 30, in Ft. Worth in February 2002."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND: "Foster, 47, convicted in the 2002 rape-murder of 30-year-old Nyaneur Pal, was scheduled to be put to death at 6 p.m. Tuesday (April 5, 2011); He would have been the first Texas killer executed using the state's reformulated lethal three-drug cocktail.At the core of Foster's case is the contention that his early trial and appeals attorneys provided insufficient representation when they failed to challenge blood-spatter evidence prosecutors said linked him to the crime......A former Army recruiter, Foster was convicted of Pal's murder after a Fort Worth pool hall bartender testified she saw Ward and Foster leave with the victim in February 2002. Pal's body, shot in the head, later was found in a Tarrant County ditch. Police and a medical examiner testified that Pal likely had been killed elsewhere, and carried - probably by two people - to the place her body was found. That scenario was supported by blood-spatter at the scene, they said. Semen from Foster and Ward were found in her body. Last December, an expert for the defense, Ohio forensics consultant Gary Rini, examined blood-spatter evidence and concluded Pal had been killed at the spot she was found, lawyers said." Reporter Allan Turner; Houston Chronicle;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has lifted its hold on the execution of a Texas man convicted in the shooting death of a woman in 2002," the Associated Press story filed earlier today begins.
"The court’s order Tuesday frees the state to set a new execution date for Cleve Foster, who was hours away from receiving a lethal injection in April when the high court stepped in," the story continues.
"Foster’s appeal raised claims of innocence and poor legal help during his trial and early stages of his appeals.
He was sentenced to death for fatally shooting Nyaneur Pal, 30, in Ft. Worth in February 2002."
The story can be found at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7588424.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
