CLEVE FOSTER: U.S. SUPREME COURT GRANTS STAY OF EXECUTION; SECOND STAY OF TEXAS DEATH ROW CASE IN A WEEK; REUTERS;

"The court halted the execution of Foster about 2-1/2 hours before he was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection around 6 p.m. local time in Texas. He was convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman he met in a bar in Fort Worth.

The justices in the brief order gave no reason why they granted the stay and said his execution will be delayed while the court considers his appeal. The Supreme Court granted a stay in another Texas death row case last week.........

Texas has executed more than four times as many people as any other state since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center."

REPORTER JAMES VICINI: REUTERS;

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BACKGROUND:

"(Cleve) Foster, 47, convicted in the 2002 rape-murder of 30-year-old Nyaneur Pal, was (first) 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." (Houston Chronicle);"

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"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a stay of execution for a Texas death row inmate, Cleve Foster, a 47-year-old former Army recruiter who was convicted of a 2002 murder and rape," the Reuters story by reporter James Vicini published on September 20, 2011 under the heading, "Supreme Court grants stay of execution in Texas case," begins.

"The court halted the execution of Foster about 2-1/2 hours before he was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection around 6 p.m. local time in Texas. He was convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman he met in a bar in Fort Worth," the story continues.

"The justices in the brief order gave no reason why they granted the stay and said his execution will be delayed while the court considers his appeal. The Supreme Court granted a stay in another Texas death row case last week.

His appeal to the Supreme Court involved claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in earlier legal proceedings.

Foster was convicted along with an accomplice, Shelton Ward, in 2003 after a jury found him guilty of murder in the slaying of Nyanuer "Mary" Pal, whose body was found nude in a ditch, according to a report by the Texas Attorney General's office.

Ward died of brain cancer on death row in 2010. Foster maintained in his trial that Ward acted alone, and that contact between him and the victim was consensual.

The three were regulars at Fat Albert's bar in Fort Worth when, the night before Valentine's Day in 2002, bartenders said Pal walked out with them, according to the report. Pal left in her car and the men followed closely behind in Foster's truck.

Eight hours later, Pal's body was found with a gunshot wound to the head and wadded-up duct tape nearby, according to the report.

Texas has executed more than four times as many people as any other state since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

(Reporting by James Vicini; Additional reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin; Editing by Jerry Norton);"

The story can be found at:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/20/us-texas-execution-stay-idUSTRE78J6EF20110920

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;